#1
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Babies are gone now; Do I remove Nest?
I had some house finches move in while I was on vacation for two weeks. I came back to a nest and when I peeked inside, there were four little light blue eggs. They hatched a week later and then a few short weeks later, they suddenly disappeared one day and I haven't seen or heard from them since. The nest appears to have been abandoned now for the past week. Should I leave it there just in case or is it safe to take it down now? It's full of bird poop and making my deck a little stinky, so I'd like to take it down and clean up my light now, LOL, but I won't if they come back to their nests. I only got a few blurry pics of them while they were there unfortunately, but here's a few of the cuties.
Mom: Dad feeding the babies.
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No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. --Christopher Morley |
#2
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Where are the birdie people? I am sure someone will come along soon. I have a family of swallows living in my garage. The 4 babies were born about a week ago. The nest is really far up. I am not going to worry about removing it for quite some time.
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#3
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You can take it down. The babies don't come back to the nest once they've fledged.
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#4
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Thanks Hazel!!!!
I normally wouldn't worry about it, but it's stinking up my deck and I like to eat my breakfast out there every morning. The nest and my light is COVERED with bird poop and it's only a few feet above my head. The deck floor was too, but I've been hosing that off. Not quite sure how I'm going to get it all off the light. Thought I'd remove the nest as much as I can first and try spraying the light with a hose first. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't destroying their home first though! They were such cute little visitors. And luckily the dogs totally ignored them and they didn't seem to care about the dogs either.
__________________
No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. --Christopher Morley |
#5
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Use rubber gloves.
A week should be long enough for the lice to be gone, at least. For the first couple of days after they leave, the bird lice can be pretty thick on the nest. But once the birds leave, the lice leave also. At least bird lice don't care for dogs, cats, or humans, so if you accidentally get into some, you itch like crazy thinking about it, but they don't cause you any problems that a shower can't cure. Yes...I'm speaking from experience...
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#6
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Thanks Hazel! I was definitely planning on wearing big rubber gloves as I'm not looking forward to cleaning it, but I didn't even think about bird lice! EEK! That freaks me out. Glad to know it doesn't stick around on humans and dogs at least. *shudder* I'll probably cut out arm holes in a big garbage bag and put that on as well, to make myself feel better if nothing else. The neighbors will think I've gone completely insane.
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No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. --Christopher Morley |
#7
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Some birds like swallows, robins, etc. will come back for a second clutch, but I'm sure that you can remove the finch nest while it's empty.
Yes, rubber gloves. Even with those on, mites can run up your arms. Jump into the shower afterwards. I have gotten horrible bites from tiny mites that were already on the ground under a phoebe nest. They ran up my legs, and over night bit me on my stomach, armpits, etc. So NASTY.....yuk.
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Bina Please have pets spayed and neutered, and wearing a collar with an ID tag. |
#8
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Oh dear, now I'm too afraid to touch the thing. I think I'll wait until the next time Dad comes to visit and let him deal with it.
__________________
No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. --Christopher Morley |
#9
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Put on your gloves, keep the garbage bag intact....open the bag, flip it over the top of the nest and scrape everything into the bag by using the bag itself. That way you have two layers of plastic between you and any nasties.
After a week, the lice have pretty much all abandoned the nest, anyway--they need live birds or they starve.
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#10
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Quote:
__________________
No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. --Christopher Morley |
#11
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And if you just can't make yourself do it, well there's that Plan B of yours: Dad!
I think you can do it, though!
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#12
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Thanks for the vote of confidence!
__________________
No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. --Christopher Morley |
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