nest-building,egg-laying, and a question

[DJbird]

Hi everyone,
On top of the airconditioner on our neighbor's balcony, are a pair of beautiful birds who we've come to really love. For the last couple of weeks they've been busy assembling twigs and things on and behind the airconditioner. We assume they are making a nest and hoping they will be laying eggs.

Our neighbor has moved out some months ago but is trying to rent the apartment. We fear that once it is rented, the new person, understandably, won't be very tolerant of birds (and droppings!) on their air conditioning system. We are wondering if we can build something on our balcony to lure them over to us where they will be safe and undisturbed. The problem is we have a small balcony which we use, and they must feel safer at the moment to be on their quiet balcony away from anyone's reach.

Also today, what certainly appeared to be the male (we've seen it mounting the other one) has been sitting quietly on the airconditioner and won't be lured away by food. Could it possibly be sitting on an egg?? It has its feathers ruffled. It doesn't seem sick though. Its never not flown over during feeding before. Would someone be kind enough to go over the nesting, egg-laying procedures? Who does what and for how long?

Does anyone have any advice what we could do to safely move the pair/family should the apartment next door get rented?

Thanks for any advice. We love this site!

DJbird

[Reti]

Hi djbird,
that is so nice of you to want to move the pair to your balcny for it's safety.
Is it possible to talk to the owner of the apartment to go in and remove the nest before any eggs are laid? The you can make that particular balcony inhospitable for them and yours, more inviting, like by putting a plant out there with a big pot they can nest in and have some privacy. Or a big box with a nest in it, something like that, and food and water.
I hope the eggs are not laid yet, cause that would make it harder to move them.
If the egg/s has been laid you can remove them altogether in the first 24 hours. You won't be killing anything by removing them that soon as the embryo has not started developing yet and they will start over getting ready for the next round of eggs, hopefully on your balcony.

Reti

[John_D]

Hi DJBird -

Nice to know you care about this pair

Two eggs are laid over a period of 36 -48 hours mostly. Generally, the male will sit from sometime in the morning until an hour or two before sunset, and maybe take a 'lunchbreak'. Other times, like all night, the hen will sit. The eggs take around 17 - 19 days to hatch. After that, young will fledge around 35 days of age.

If there is a cosy setup you can provide on your balcony, they might move after the young have fledged, though they often start another round of eggs even before that. It's possible that if they do start another round, they would choose a nearby site (like your balcony) or the same place they are right now. They often like to nest in or behind plant tubs, to be as inconspicuous as possible. Some adapt to wooden boxes, like chinchilla nest boxes which we get from the UK equivalent of Petsmart.

Do they come near your balcony at feeding time, or stay away until no-one is there?

John

[Lovebirds]

Once they have laid the eggs, moving them will be virtually impossible. I assume you are feeding them on YOUR balcony? The only thing I can think of is to fix them a nesting place on your balcony and feed them right beside it and hope they "notice" the nest and use it. Other than that, you could just leave them and "hope" that no one rents the place and if they do, hope they can be tolerant of the birds long enough for them to raise their babies. Here's how the process goes.........the hen will lay her first egg and she may or may not sit tight on it. Then she will lay her second egg two days later, and that's when you will see one of the parents on the eggs at all times. Usually Mom sits from about 4:00 PM, through the night, until about 10:00 AM the next morning. Then at 10:00 AM, Dad will take his turn and sit until 4:00 PM. This will go on for about 19 days from the day the first egg is laid. They will continue to sit on the youngsters with the same time routine until the babies are around 10 to 12 days old. At that time, the babies will begin to feather and can maintain thier body temp. and you will notice that they are left alone during the day. At about 30 days old, they are just about ready to leave the nest. Then..............when the babies are about 16 to 18 days old, Mom will lay a second set of eggs. If you can't get the birds to move to a better nesting place, and you fear that new renters will come in an destroy the nest, the next best thing to do is replace the eggs with plastic/wood eggs or you can take the eggs, boil them, let them cool and put them back. The parents will still sit on them and won't know that they are not going to hatch. If they are not disturbed, they will sit on them for about 20 days or so, realize at that time they are not going to hatch and simply walk away from them. In the mean time, if some one moves in and runs them off, no harm done really, because the eggs were never going to hatch in the first place. The OTHER choice you have, is to leave them alone, provide food and water and if the eggs hatch and they have to be moved at some point before the babies are weaned, then you can take them in your apartment and finish raising them. Hope this gives you some idea what you're facing. Any other questions?? Just ask away.....some one here will answer you...........

[Lovebirds]

LOL.........seems we all jumped in at the same time!!!

[Trees Gray]

Originally Posted by DJbird

Also today, what certainly appeared to be the male (we've seen it mounting the other one) has been sitting quietly on the airconditioner and won't be lured away by food. Could it possibly be sitting on an egg?? It has its feathers ruffled. It doesn't seem sick though. Its never not flown over during feeding before. Would someone be kind enough to go over the nesting, egg-laying procedures? Who does what and for how long?
DJbird

Hi DJbird,

Thank you for your concern over the welfare of this couple.

You have gotten some excellent answers already.

It is probable that the male is sitting on the eggs, if he is in the nest area by himself and all fluffed up. If it is the female, she will sit all night and the male will incubate the eggs mid morning to afternoon, sometimes later, depending on when the hen was relieved of the duty.

[DJbird]

thanks everyone for the info. Today we climbed on a ladder on our balcony and peered over the airconditioner to see one beautiful egg. We don't have the ability to see better so I'm not sure if there is a second one yet. No sign yet of new neighbors and noww we're afraid to disturb them. But if they're going to be doing this again in a couple months...
We'll try making a seductive housing unit out a box with a plant and place it high up our balcony wall and hope for the best.

We'll keep you posted!

djbird

[DJbird]

oh, and by the way, we feed them from our balcony by throwing a handful of seeds down onto the street (we're pretty close to the ground ourselves). When we come out on the balcony they fly over to our banister, but we thought the neighbors might complain if we fed them ON our balcony. I just read somewhere that its best to feed them in the morning. Is that true?

Djbird

[John_D]

Sounds like they have got used to you being about, anyway.

Their instinctive feeding times would be soon after daybreak, then maybe a couple of hours before sunset. Ferals are not that choosy, really, being used to having to take what they can find when it's available.

Morning sets 'em up for the day, afternoon helps them if it's likely to be a long cold night.

If you do set something up, their main concern is 'feeling' safe. The wild rock pigeons (like those I watched in Scotland) roost and nest in caves or abandoned farm buildings, tucked away from danger, so that gives a clue as to their preferences

John