Wild Birds in the Coop ~ What to Expect

Birds are beautiful, serene creatures. And nesting season is a wonderful time of the year for photographers, birders, and even the least experienced enthusiasts - but wild birds can bring a set of horrid problems when they decide to move into the coop for nesting. How do we understand these intruders so that we can deal with them?
First of all, understand what, where, and how. What kind of bird is it? Not necessarily the species, but the role (mother, baby, father, or nest). Where is it? Can you reach it? Will it let you touch it? How is it interacting withy your animals? Is it harming them? Are they harming it? These are things you must understand to remove the birds.
Secondly, look and see if there are any eggs, young, or adults in the nest. If so, leave it be, or call a rehabilitator in your area. If there are living birds, chicks, or eggs, DO NOT REMOVE THEM!!


~MY EXPERIENCES WITH WILD BIRDS~


HOUSE WRENS
In the coop, we have a single House Wren female with 4 eggs. Since she isn't doing any damage, we have left her be, and she does not bother our hens nor do they bother her.

BROWN THRASHERS
In a nearby bush, we have a pair of Brown Thrashers and their one young. The one baby they do have is the only who was not kicked out or died, so they are not having a great year. Plus, Macy (the female) has a very low fertility rate and has produced duds several years in a row. Currently, I am caring for one Northern Thrasher nestling that was kicked out every time I put her back.

BLUEBIRDS
We have a Bluebird box, and for the past eight years, the same pair has been laying. But they recently passed away, so we are looking for new parents.

I hope you enjoy this. Please feel free to ask questions and know that your contributions to this odd topic are greatly appreciated.

-K Host

This is a really cool thread!! Please post more!! Pictures too!

Great! I will get some pics tomorrow! Thanks!

-Kara

Update: Turns out my ladies have some scaly leg mites .
Most likely introduced by the birds, I will need to move the nest, which I really hate to do. The mites are pretty bad, but a good bath, a coop cleaning, and a bit of Vasoline should do the deed. Hopes for the Wrens and the chickies.

There's a wild female Junco that lives by my garden. Her nest is low so I can see it pretty easily. I check on her daily.

Yesterday all three of her eggs hatched. They're so adorable. One chick is a runt though and it's siblings sit on it.

We have encountered Juncos several times before, and I have rehabbed a good bit of them, especially the little runts who get kicked out. Unfortunately, last time a Junco fell out of the nest, the chickens got him before I could.

i only see juncos in the winter and i actually have a feeder this year so well see what happens i had a pair of bluebirds inspecting my birdhouse but my nextdoor neighbors have a martin house stuffed to the brim with sparrows and they quickly evicted the bluebirds.

Weird! We see Juncos in Fall, Winter, and early Spring. I was forced to kill a large number of Sparrows due to their aggressiveness towards our cows. FYI, I got permission from the Florida Fish & Game. After that, they DID NOT come back, thank God! Last year, before the Sparrow massacre (he he), they tore up one of our calves after he wandered too far from Laurie, his mommy. He was okay, thanks to his awesome sauce veternarian!

I never knew sparrows were bad like that.

Yikes!

There's a giant garter snake that lived by the Junco nest.
The snake tried to eat a toad once and failed.
A few days after that ALL the junco chicks and their mama was gone!! I think the snake ate the junco chicks since the nest was in place where the snake could get to.

So sad...