[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Connie, is their mealworm dish in a good location – can they see it from their box? How long has it been since you had any worms to feed them? Usually once they “get a taste” they are hooked. It might take a little time & effort but they will eat once they find them. I’d be interested about your “lousy order”. There are several different worm suppliers around, and they all (I believe) will guarantee a live delivery as long as you are home (or have a hold & call at post office) for delivery. Where there perks to ordering from a 2nd or 3rd party supplier like Amazon?

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Gin, glad you answered her question – it was a really good one. Now we know they USUALLY abandon the nest, but nothing is always a sure thing. What a thrill you have, Gin, to have a white-egg laying female – yes, it should real easy to tell her eggs from others! Hang in there, Judy, and maybe you will have better luck with a new nest.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Yeah, those yard/household chores DO get in the way sometime – that is why I have never put a nest cam in my box because I would get NOTHING else done. Congrats on the new nest – I’m hoping my pair will build another soon – but fledgilngs are just out of box 2 days so parents have some teaching to do first hopefully!

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Judy, so sorry this happened so close to hatching. I have only had two wren attacks I believe – found all eggs on the ground broken each time, so I don’t have an answer to your question, but it is a good question. I could find nothing on the great BB website sialis.org about this situation, although there is a ton of info on house wrens and what damage they can do. Maybe someone here has experience with this situation. Good luck.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Tia, I would certainly at least peek inside – you might take precautions to plug up the hole or put some sort of screen over the opening so you can see inside but the baby could not get out. If you can tell that it is not tangled on anything (I’ve never had to do this so don’t know the proper procedure) you will just need to let it along until the parents can coax it out. At 21 days all should be out unless it is a runt or something. Watch closely to be sure they are still feeding it. Good luck. Anyone else had this particular problem? – help out here.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Happy for you, Connie – yes, patience is needed but SO hard to comply! Hope there is an egg.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Believe heat shields are necessary, especially if box has no shade, like all of mine. This shield is easy, inexpensive & can be used again and again. Will try to post picture but may not work. Just made of 3/4 or 1″ white styrofoam with about 1/2 to 3/4″ spacers between shield & wood, used on back of box, south side and top. North side not necessary and of course front needs to be open.

P.S. Just found out need to right click on icon & say “open in new tab” and then full picture will come up in a new tab (may have to click on the tab with Google).

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Deb, take Tammy & Gin’s advise about a hole reducer – I never thought about that since I have not had any experience with Dee’s, don’t believe I have ever seen one!

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Tammy, yes that was probably me when I first put up a Gilwood box. I believe the Gilwood box that my blues have eggs in now (due to hatch today) has the guard 3 inches from the hole, not the sides, BUT I’m sure you are good with that 3 inches from the side which would only be another 1/2″. Mama has plenty of room to swoop in to the hole, which is where they land. But I am thrilled that the general opinion has changed from the old 2 1/2″ space between guard & hole to 3″ – believe this gives parents a little more space to feed.
P.S. Tammy, is that a new family member with you in your profile picture?

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Carol - Mid-Mo..

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

That’s a good question, Tammy. My blues normally use a different box on the 2nd & 3rd nestings, so I hadn’t really thought about leaving a guard up before 1st egg was laid because of different location. Possibly, if same pair are interested in building again in same spot, they may be okay. But I have noticed this week that wren & HOSP are not around my boxes (I have been trapping HOSP very successfully) so I believe they are nesting elsewhere.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Now, that is a great idea, phillyblues – I’ll need to remember this!

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Deb, looks like you are right – the dees have this nest if they have eggs there!! They are a very desirable bird I hear, but I have never had any nest here. Hopefully the blues will get their own nest soon, but you will need to leave the dees’ nest alone & hope for a successful fledging there.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Wow, Cari, this is quite a situation. Yes, that papa will be busy and hopefully he will help both mamas out with the feeding & training later on. Never had this situation, although one year I did believe I had one papa being “attentive” to two females, but I later learned that it was a completely different pair of blues. Hope someone here has experienced this situation and can help you out with the information. Please keep this tread going so it can be a learning lesson for all.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

I think you should remove the nest so the blues can “make their own”. I know BB usually build nests out of fine grasses and pine needles if available, very different from dees. Others need to chime in here.

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Randy, don’t the worms crawl off if you put them on the ground and not in a slick container? I guess if they come immediately and you just have a few out they would eat them all up at once. I know they are too precious & expensive to let all other birds get at them!!!

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