Frightened Swallow chicks out of their nest, will they be okay?

Silent Runner

We have a Swallows nest in our shed with five chicks in it. While I was passing the nest I could see one of the chicks tails hanging out and I went to touch it (silly I know). Then they all jumped out of the nest and flew outside. As far as I know they didn't leave the nest before.

Well this happend last Friday evening, but I'm a little worried now what with the strong winds over the weekend. I was out in the shed today and saw 2/3 chichs in the cavity of the wall...they werent in the nest. I felt bad about this but I feel even worse now, is there anything I could do like grab the chicks and but them in the nest? Do you think all five chicks will be okay? Is this not around the time they start flying?

Mabel

It's probably better to just leave them be Silent Runner - wild birds dislike being touched and handling them further may stress them out completely

Kess73

If they actually flew properly from the nest and have returned to the inside of the shed sometime later under their own steam, then I would not be too worried about them tbh.


Trying to grab them, or worse still actually catching them and forcing them back into that nest would be the worst thing you could do imho.

They are probably already at the stage where they go outside during the day and come back to your shed in the evening/night.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The fact they flew out means they have fledged and will be fine.

A lesson learnt I hope.