Second nest started

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  • #9231

    Mom and Dad bird have started their second nesting. I found 2 eggs in the nest this morning. I have seen 3 or 4 of the fledglings from the first brood in the trees but they have not been to the feeder yet. It has been wet and cool for the past several days.

    David
    Stafford, VA

    #9238
    Carol – Mid-Mo.
    Participant

      Congrats, David – my 2nd nest has 4 eggs and mama has been incubating almost a week. The last two days have been warm and today is expected to be around 84 degrees. I am debating if I need to put up my heat shield yet – will probably wait until it gets closer to 90 degrees. Good luck with your new nest.

      Does anyone else have problems during the summer with lawn mowers, tillers, and other summer equipment bothering the incubating mama? Dear hubby and I have some problems in this regard – he wants to just mow and till at any time and I am concerned about mama being off the nest too long.

      #9239

      Thanks Carol. I do not have a garden to till but I do mow around the back yard. While she is laying or incubating I use my weed-eater to cut a 9-10″ strip around the base of the nestbox pole – not hitting the pole support. Then I use my lawn mower to cut a 8′ circle around the box. I then use my lawn tractor to mow the front and side yards to let the female back in the nest for a while and then I move to the back yard to finish up. I stay to the sides as long as I can and if she appears in the nest box I stop for a while to see if she stays or flies off to a nearby tree. If she moves I continue cutting and get the lawn in strips from the nestbox out to the side areas that I have cut, staying outside the 4′ circle that I had previously cut.. It takes me about 3 hours to mow the yard completely with the moderate interruptions. I do this up to about 12 days after they hatch and just do the front and side lawn until they fledge

      David
      Stafford, VA

      #9246
      Carol – Mid-Mo.
      Participant

        Thanks loads, David – I have copied your plan and given it to DH to review. I’m trying to stress to him how important it is for mama not to be off the nest for too long (maybe 15 minutes when it is warm) when she is incubating eggs. He gets somewhat perturbed but does try – the box they are in right now is way back in our yard, about 250 feet from our home, so I’m not too particular if the grass has to wait back there, as we are basically the only one to see it.

        #9247

        My yard is about 165′ wide and the box is about in the middle and 85 feet from the house. I can mow to about 50′ from the sides of the box and about 30′ from the front before she comes off the nest. I would bet that he could mow the lawn to within 50 – 75 feet from the box and Mama bird would probably watch him from inside the nestbox.

        David
        Stafford, VA

        #9271
        blue diamonds
        Participant

          David, congratulations on your bluebird nest. How many eggs are in there now? I like how you have a method for mowing…..very thoughtful of incubating mama blue.

          Judy – Michigan

          #9276

          Thank you Judy. Mama bird is incubating 4 eggs. She had 4 hatch from the 5 eggs in the first nest so maybe this is what we will see for the rest of the year. hopefully we will get a third nest around mid July.

          David
          Stafford, VA

          #9301
          Dana
          Participant

            Hi Dave congratulations on the 2nd nest!

            #9313
            Sassy
            Participant

              David, that is great, 4 more eggs is a good number. Like you I hope to see another nest this year. Fingers crossed.
              Connie

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