2nd egg in 2nd nesting

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Well, my pair of blues are very eager and ready this year – had a new nest about 3 days after last fledging & 1st egg May 5, 2nd egg May 6, today. Spooker went up right after after 1st egg was laid & put up wren guard today. Last year I forgot and waited until until last egg was laid and mama would not accept the wren guard so went without a guard that year. I had note about this in last year’s memos about not waiting so long – hope she accepts it okay this year. Last year was the 1st year for this new pair I believe. I think there is a wren around because I found sticks in one of my boxes & heard it, so this will be a worry if she does not accept the guard. I will be around our home tomorrow when the 3rd egg is due is due to be laid so I can watch her closely and take the wren guard down if needed. ANYONE ELSE HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE GUARD NOT BEING ACCEPTED?

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Well, I went ahead and lifted up the wren guard top (it is on a hinge) and this left the sides of the guard still on. I watched closely for several hours this morning – papa was going in and out of the box waving for the female – I left and did not check until just a little after noon. Low and behold there was a 3rd egg in it – Halalulia! The wren I have been hearing is busy putting in new sticks at a different box – I will keep it busy with this task.

I’ve got to figure out how to get this fairly new mama bird to accept the spooker for future nestings, this year and next.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

This 2nd nesting now has four eggs in it – don’t know if mama will have another egg tomorrow or not – but don’t believe she was incubating today. I still have the wren gatherine up sticks at a different box – I keep taking out part of the nest so he will keep busy putting more in.
Still need some help from anyone whose had trouble with a young mama BB which has never gpne under a guard before – I am hoping after a few days of incubation I can put down the lid on the wren guard and she will be so committed to the eggs that she will find her way into the hole. ????

[Dana]

Carol you had me cracking up over the wren – you removing the sticks and the crazy wren putting them back in. I’m picturing this. I know how they are. Whatever it takes to keep the little bugger busy is great. haha! They don’t call them bird-brained for nothing.

– Dana

[Dana]

BTW, congrats on the 2nd nest and eggs! Hopefully mama bluebird will be fine with the wren guard up. My bluebird babies are about 12 days old now. We had 3 days of cold and steady rain and I was a little worried about them. I kept my mealworm feeder stocked with mealworms and watched as the adult bluebirds went back and forth feeding them. I checked on the babies yesterday afternoon when we finally had some sunshine and all three of them are good. What a relief! If all continues to go well they are due to fledge sometime this coming weekend.

– Dana

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Yes, I am still taking out the sticks and the “birdbrain” wren keeps putting more in – this has been one of my specialities for a long time – after finding broken eggs on the ground a few times – this got me very upset but I know there are a protected species (and they really are cute things). Oh, by the way there are now 4 eggs and mama is incubating as of today. I saw her come out to eat this morning and feed worms to the fledglings but she went right back into the box (early this morning). It’s possible there are 5 eggs but I don’t believe so because they usually lay the eggs later in the mid-morning to around noon.
By the way congrats on your BB hatches and hope the fledging goes well!

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