Wren talk for those that have been through it.

[Meg]

Good thought Lisa, maybe I’ll “accidentally” let my cats outside when the wren is around hah. I put up a cardboard guard and it’s basically been raining all week and seems to be holding up fine. The chickadees were back in and out of the box last night so not sure what’s going on there but I only see them in the late afternoon. I’ll check it later and see if there are any more eggs.

[dogsandbirds]

Lisa, if she’s brooding you should stay away from the box in the late evening. You can ALWAYS knock on the box and then proceed with whatever you need to do, including replacing the guard at any other time of day. If you flush her, she will be back shortly as long as it’s not dark.

To toughen a cardboard guard, you can paint or laminate it. A laminated guard will last for years.

Gin
Atlanta, GA

[Scot]

My 2 cents…..

I have 4 boxes and 1 gourd(I know, bad move).

Last year I had HOWR in a box. Thy had babies and left my swallows and bluebirds alone.

This year, they are in the gourd with another round of nestlings. So far they have left my bluebirds and a chickadee nest alone, both of which successfully fledged.

I now have round two of bluebirds with 5 more eggs incubating. The HOWR are caring for their newborn and have left my bluebirds alone still.

I’m nervous but believe they are content to be left alone doing their own business raising their newbies. Hopefully I won’t regret leaving them be, although it’s not legal to do otherwise. I truly believe if I took down the gourd, they’d be going for the boxes and would destroy the contents.

Scot
PA

[Meg]

Well after two days of not seeing much activity, I went to walk around the box today and accidently flushed mama chickadee. The male quickly flew over to her and they were pretty irritated at me so I didn’t even open the box. So seems like she is possibly incubating now. Maybe I was wrong the other day about thinking the nest had been disturbed while I was gone. The wrens do seem content with the front box like Scot has seen with his, so maybe the multiple boxes have worked after all. Time will tell I guess.

[Lisa]

Thanks Gin! My first wren guard was great but cleaning lady tossed it. This one is a little less sturdy but holding on despite the rain.
I really don’t want to use my expensive shoe boxes even though I can’t wear the dumb shoes after breaking my foot in 9 places! Vanity!

[Lisa]

This Mom is funny. She lays around noon. Not typical but I’m sure she’s incubating 4 now. Giving her some peace from my daily paranoid monitoring!

[David in Stafford,VA]

While reading this I realized that I did have a wren situation in 2013. I lost a total of 14 eggs, 9 were in the first nesting period when I lost a female that had laid 5 eggs and then disappeared. Another female started building a new nest over the old nest and eggs – so I removed the 5 eggs. She completed her nest, laid 4 eggs, and a wren got those. I cleaned the nest and she built another nest laid 5 eggs and a wren got those also. (This is before I came to this forum and learned about the Wren guards). I took the box down for the season and the wrens went away. I also took down all of the songbird feeders as they seemed to monopolize them. I still have a few around but they have not been back to the box since then.

David
Stafford, VA

[tamsea]

someone used aluminum flashing as a wren guard which might be a good idea. (For rain) This one doesn’t have sides but maybe sides can be made easily??

Tammy

[Lisa]

It’s absolutely pouring and storming and I’m so worried about the wren guard flopping and catching mom inside. I went out with lightning all around and it still looks OK. Cutting up a good laminated shoebox to put on in the morning. And it kills me that my poor fledgelings are out there in the trees!

I might try the aluminum next year but the sides of the front opening need to be covered and it’s so hot here.

[Author]

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