Removal of Nest (Box #1)

Last night I opened nesting box #1 and removed the nest. I obviously examined it as I was curious to know exactly how many eggs had hatched. To my surprise and sadness, I found only one egg. This means that of 11 eggs, 10 hatched and 3 hatchlings died. I had noticed 2 but not 3. I also found a very dry dead hatchling in the nest which I removed and buried.

I must say it was not pleasant in the least, both visually as well as in terms of odour.

I then threw the nest away and cleaned and disinfected (clearly necessary for a number of reasons including the need to kill off any flees which might otherwise have developed and procreated so much as to infest a potential next nest and kill the hatchlings) the nesting box, left it open (the front of the box can be removed in the models I use) overnight to dry and closed it this morning just in case....