Can I clean up nest box with babies in it?

[BlueCrowns]

I have 4 babies in the nestbox (1st was hatched on 5/1 and so on). The nestbox is getting yucky IMO now. Mom has pushed most of the waste etc in(and up) the corners of the nestbox to try to keep the box clean.
Is it safe to go in and scrape a little of the waste out of there? I haven't handled the babies at all yet, but Mom seems to tolerate me opening the nestbox lid without making much of a fuss.
How much can I do without having Mom get too upset?

 

[Rebecca in Israel]

Even if you are extra careful in handling the eggs the hen will still sit on them. You can try perhaps just removing what she has pushed to the side and add some wood chips the natural type sold for hamsters etc. She will move the old stuff to the side or corner, and move the eggs to where she is happy and content. There is no real harm in leaving it as is either.

 

[BlueCrowns]

No eggs to deal with... The babies are almost 3 weeks old. 3 have pin feathers, the youngest is pretty good size too.

 

[KimKimWilliamson]

I believe many breeders/people handle their babies at this stage, and the mom still cares for them...I cant seehow it would hurt....we left our finchs nest as it was though when her babes hatched, just cause it was rather inexcessible (nested in a wooden birdhouse in their enclosure).

Hopefully someone with more experience in this topic comes along.

 

[Rebecca in Israel]

No eggs to deal with... The babies are almost 3 weeks old. 3 have pin feathers, the youngest is pretty good size too.

Absolutely, take them out for a couple of minutes, keep them warm if you are in a cold temperature area, do a swift but efficient cleanup, take a photo of them and put them back! Then post the photo/

 

[cgreenaway]

Yeah I definitely agree. Just take them out and put them somewhere warm like in a basket with a low temp heat pad if necessary and clean it out quickly and put them back. I did that last year with my lovies nestbox and they were ok with that. I also let the parents out so they watched over their babies outside the nestbox while I cleaned it and then everyone went back in the cage and nest when I was finished.

 

[Spinderella]

What I would do to clean the nest box when the babies were that young was I would get a tupperware container, line it with kleenex and carefully set the babies in there. Drape a handtowel over the babies to keep them warm.

Then, I'd shoo the hen out of the nest box and take the box down and clean it out. If you work fast, like in 5 minutes, you won't have to worry about the babies being chilled.

After putting the new bedding in there, and placing the babies in there, the hen would hop right back in, no problem.

 

[Spinderella]

Absolutely, take them out for a couple of minutes, keep them warm if you are in a cold temperature area, do a swift but efficient cleanup, take a photo of them and put them back! Then post the photo/

 

[vmorrison]

The very worst thing you can do is completely clean out the nest box. Most lovie hens will not tolerate a complete cleaning and they will usually abandon their babies. You will have a clean nest box and young babies to hand feed.

What I do is remove the worst of the mess and put a fresh floor of aspen shavings on top of the bedding that's there. The feces in the corners were put there by the babies. Babies back up to eliminate. They don't poop where they sleep.

If you give mom some clean non-glossy newspaper, she should shred at least some of it and take it into the box. She can't do any housekeeping unless you give her something to use.