Two sets of blues……total different habits. Update.

[blue diamonds]

Hi All, just an update on my blues.

Front-yard paired boxes. One box has blues with 4 eggs. They are very attentive parents. Mama blue is seldom seen outside of the box. They accepted the wren guard and sparrow spooker easily. When I go the check on the box I always start saying “Hello Mama” from a ways away. She will fly out before I get there. Eggs should hatch around May 31st. The other box is empty…saw chickadees looking at it yesterday.

Back-yard paired boxes. One box has blues in it with 2 eggs. After the 1st egg I put up the wren guard which mama would not accept. Took it off the next day, so day two there was no egg. On day 3 she laid egg #2. That’s when I put up the sparrow spooker….they both seem ok with it (going in and out) but I did not get the 3rd egg today (day 4). If egg three shows up tomorrow I’m going to try the wren guard again. In the mornings I can hear wrens from all directions. Grrr. This pair are not attentive to their eggs, out-and-about most of the day. The other box is empty with no lookers.

The blues are keeping me busy, but it’s a labor of love.

Judy-Michigan

[Sassy]

Judy, I never tried a paired box. I am assuming one faces towards the South East and the other North West. Does anyone have any luck with getting BB’s in a box facing the NW direction? I won’t try doing this this year, heck I can’t even get something to look at the back yard box. At least nothing yet.
I do not have a sparrow spooked but thought if I needed one I would get a Mylar balloon from the dollar store and cut it in strips. They used to have Mylar gift wrap too.
Connie

[blue diamonds]

Connie, there are a few different ways to do paired boxes. Mine are on separate poles about 15 feet apart. The front-yard boxes face south/east and the back-yard boxes face north/east. I chose the direction that would work for the bluebirds, but I needed to be able to view the entrances to the boxes from inside my house. It’s working perfectly. The front boxes and back boxes are about 120 yards (football field) apart with the house in the center. Last year I had TRES and BB in the back boxes. There was a BB nest in the front also, but a nasty wren got in and ruined all the eggs. They are a big worry around here.

[Author]

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