Aussie Finch Forum

Had a look in a nest of 4 birds yesterday to see how things are going. Nestbox is very messy but I found what look like maggots in the nest...
Never seen this before and cant find anything online about it. I dont want to pull the nest box down and clean it out as the birds are due to fledge in about a week. But surely its not good to have that in there. Anybody else had this happen before ? From what I can see inside the nest there arent any dead birds in
there and its a side opening box so its hard to look around. Are they maggots and how do they get in there ? Will they damage the birds ?
And would it be worth pulling down the box removing the chicks and replacing the nesting material, then putting the chicks back ?

What kind of finches are they? You never know it might be extra food for the parents and young.

As mentioned earlier we need to get more data.
Often damp/wet dirty nests will attract maggots.
If this is the case don't worry as the maggots will only clean up and not attack the chicks.
If they are what is called mini mealworms then they could be a problem as they can be carnivorous.
Mites can be a problem but I doubt if that is your problem

Thanks for the replies guys.

They are gouldian finches. I gave the aviary a clean out yesterday morning and found worms on the floor under the seed tray. I did used to try and feed meal worms and i have a sand floor. But the ones in the nestbox look different and do look like maggots as they are small, fat and white. If they are harmless then ill just wait till they fledge and give it a good clean out. It would pretty humid inside the nestbox atm with all the cold/wet weather we have had over the last few weeks and it was fresh nesting material (coconut fibre) when they went to nest.

Haven't had the situation myself, but know people who have. Maggots can come for 2 reasons the obvious one of a dead chick and as E Orix said a very damp and probably heavily pooed in nest. What I am aware of people doing to deal with this is lift out chicks and nesting material, remove maggots and damp nesting material and replace with dryer stuff and replace nest and chicks. Less of a problem with finches than non insectiverous species.
LML

Well I pulled down the nestbox and had a good look through. No dead birds thankfully, got rid of the very messy contents and replaced it with new stuff. Babies back in and all is well ! Mum and Dad are happy as a pig in... mud.