Robin's nest right outside the front door

[StoneCole]

Hi all. Looking for some advice.

A robin has built a nest on the light right outside the front door of my (rental) house.

If it were in a different location it wouldn't bother me, but it's literally one foot up and one foot to the right when you come out the door.

What can I do about this??

-move it?
-have someone move it (either at a cost or not - if i had to pay some guy that's fine)
-destroy it?
-leave it alone (how long until any activity in the nest is complete)?

I'm not sure if there are eggs in there (it's difficult to get that close to see since the roof of the house is not too high above the nest).

My current tenants are just moving out and I will have new tenants (hopefully) August 1.

What can/should I do??? Anyone dealt with this before??

Thanks!

[DoubleF]

Robins are ok. I believe they keep Magpies away too. Don't quote me, but once the eggs hatch and the birds are ready, they will be gone.

I don't know for sure, but it looks like robins nest for 13 days and then the brood can fly away within about 13 days as well. So it's a 1 month nuisance at most? You can always dismantle the nest after they leave.

Based on what I read, apparently if you move a nest, the robin will abandon it.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/A...in/lifehistory

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/rob...hool/text.html

[Fuzz]

We've had one in the same spot for maybe 30 years. It has fallen down a few times and been rebuilt. So be prepared for them to come back next year if you leave it.

[StoneCole]

^that's a really good start, thanks. I can wait 12 days for incubation and 12 days until they leave...but if this Robin is in the "2-3 broods" range (from what I read they will have 1-3) ...that will be an issue. Do I need to watch this thing and get rid of it between broods?

[Northendzone]

if there are eggs in the enst, i'd let nature takes it's course and then destroy the nest when it is vacant. if you are heartless then kill it with fire.

i had a bird/birds that kept trying to build a nest on the overhang of my porch - after constantly taking down the nest and cleanining up the building material mess i took a small piece of wood and put a bunch of screws in it and affixed it tot eh sop where the enst was being built - no more issues.

[llwhiteoutll]

I'd leave it alone and then destroy it once they are gone.

I left town for a few days last summer and left my bedroom window open a bit. In the few days I was gone, a pair of robins built their nest on top of it and I couldn't close the window. They were gone in about a month; but it was pretty cool to watch them do maintenance on the nest, see one bird bring the other food, see the (presumably) male bird sit on the wires out back and chase magpies away from the yard, hen see the little chicks poking out of the nest.

After they were gone, we got rid of the nest and they didn't come back. It was a good spot for them since it was protected under the eaves, but a bit of a pain to not be able to close the window.

[ken0042]

I had robins build a nest right beside the man door to my detached garage. I left them alone, and eventually there were chicks that hatched. Any time we used the door the robins would leave the nest at first, and then eventually they would just stay and watch us.

I'd say leave it, and just ask your new tenants to be mindful of them.

[Huntingwhale]

Murder them in cold blood

[Jacks]

I had the same issue, it was a bit of a nuisance since I couldn't really turn that light on but once they were gone I removed the nest. Next year they built a nest in the same exact place so you might want to fix it somehow that it's not a good location for them anymore.

[redforever]

I had a robin's nest outside my front door a few years ago. I did not get my XMAS wreath down in time and they built it right on top the old dried up wreath.

My husband was in the process of dismantling our old front deck and putting up a new one. We were afraid all the activity would disturb them but the robins never lost a beat. They sat motionless while they were incubating the eggs. I forget now how long it took for the baby robins to hatch.

Even once the babies were hatched, the parents never lost a beat. My husband started work on the east end and worked towards the west end where the nest was. Even then, the parents never got too agitated until my husband was almost under the nest. Then he took evenly timed breaks either every so many minutes or when he saw them lurking with bugs and worms that they had found to feed their babies.

The baby robins took exactly 14 days to fly...just like my birding book said. It was really neat watching them fly on that last day. One flew quite early in the morning, two around noon, and the last one seemed to have cold feet and never flew until 7 pm. The mother squawked and scolded and finally the last one flew.

There was not one mess either for the whole time. I was quite shocked at how the parents handled the poop. Once they had fed a baby, that baby in turn lifted its bum and pooped into the parents’ mouth!!!

I will post some pics of the baby robins when I have more time.

[Flamesoholic]

Originally Posted by redforever

I had a robin's nest outside my front door a few years ago. I did not get my XMAS wreath down in time and they built it right on top the old dried up wreath.

My husband was in the process of dismantling our old front deck and putting up a new one. We were afraid all the activity would disturb them but the robins never lost a beat. They sat motionless while they were incubating the eggs. I forget now how long it took for the baby robins to hatch.

Even once the babies were hatched, the parents never lost a beat. My husband started work on the east end and worked towards the west end where the nest was. Even then, the parents never got too agitated until my husband was almost under the nest. Then he took evenly timed breaks either every so many minutes or when he saw them lurking with bugs and worms that they had found to feed their babies.

The baby robins took exactly 14 days to fly...just like my birding book said. It was really neat watching them fly on that last day. One flew quite early in the morning, two around noon, and the last one seemed to have cold feet and never flew until 7 pm. The mother squawked and scolded and finally the last one flew.

There was not one mess either for the whole time. I was quite shocked at how the parents handled the poop. Once they had fed a baby, that baby in turn lifted its bum and pooped into the parents’ mouth!!!

I will post some pics of the baby robins when I have more time.

Ya they do that to hide the location of the nest. Right up until the babies are ready to leave, the parents clean all the poop up from the babes and drop it a distance away from the nest. If you start seeing poop below your nest, you know the babies are getting ready to leave. I don't know if all birds do that but Robins do for sure. They're pretty amazing to watch

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Flamesoholic

Ya they do that to hide the location of the nest. Right up until the babies are ready to leave, the parents clean all the poop up from the babes and drop it a distance away from the nest. If you start seeing poop below your nest, you know the babies are getting ready to leave. I don't know if all birds do that but Robins do for sure. They're pretty amazing to watch

We didn't get too much work done (except for the deck) over the two weeks the robins raised their young. They were fascinating to watch.

I actually left my XMas wreaths up the next two years but no luck. They did come back and investigate the wreath the next year but we were baby sitting our son's Lab and his voice and energy was too much for the robins.

[redforever]

They laid 4 eggs, all hatched, and all survived and flew.