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Deb, I would definitely leave one box up as a HOSP trapper machine! In my observances during the past 9 seasons, if you let a pair keep busy at one box and set VanErt trap when they are BOTH committed and have the start (not too much or trap will not trip) of a nest, works great. If you capture the female, the rule is to leave the nesting material in box and he will try almost immediately to draw a mate. If you capture the male (BEST) go ahead and take out nest because the female will not go back to box without the male. I do this all season with 3 empty boxes, which are about 250″ apart and away from the blues’ box. True, you can use your capture as a decoy in a DRT and lots of people have luck with this. All I catch are natives – I believe my HOSP have high IQs they are so smart.
Lisa, 5-7 days would be minimum after hatching. but some give it a couple more days. Yes, it is easier for parents to feed the larger birds without the guard. I use a homemade guard, made out of thin cedar wood and just screws onto the front of my box. Main thing is to have AT LEAST 2 1/2″ and now believe 3″ is better for the parents.
You know, when we are gone I don’t have anyone to feed my blues either, but we are usually only gone 3 days at a time. I often worry about not having the worms available, but out in the real natural world, they have to fend for themselves. I don’t have to whistle much before they show up when I get back home & put out worms, and this is usually the first thing I do!
Congrats BZ – did your eggs hatch yet? Looks like your 14 days would have been Sunday, April 23. That is when I found my 1st baby blue and the other 4 hatched later that night or early the next morning.
Thanks all – and Tammy I’m sure glad you were able to make those TRES leave one box for the blues! Shame on them for being so selfish!
Since you actually saw the hawk kill this mama, I would agree with Lisa. HOWEVER, don’t know if anyone is for sure if another female could come and incubate those eggs if papa found another mate. I assume she had not began incubating yet, as there were only 3 eggs laid? Yes, this is sad but unfortunately we cannot control the hawks. I agree that he could find another mate and begin all over.
2 foot from a fence is not enough space, as they say a snake can stretch himself I believe it is 8′ – of course, that would have to be a big snake. But I do believe 2′ would be too close. Glad to hear no more sticks in the box, but as we said, those wrens know the box & hole/nest is there now. And yes, the tree is also a place where they drop from. It is a jigsaw puzzle almost to find just the right spot, and only time & experience will tell the tale. We all do things wrong at first and learn from the mistakes. But the best reading information you can find I truly believe is on the http://www.sialis.org website. A briefer version is on this forum under “Bluebird Information” at the top of the page. I haven’t had Carolina wrens but hear from others here they are nice birds.
Darrell, we Missourians seems to be about in the same time frame. We are just about 75 miles from KC (southeast). My nest with 5 eggs is due to hatch around the 1st part of next week I believe. Hope our babies hatch & fledge successfully, as well as all others on this site. Congrats on your pair returning.
Those look like twigs (small pieces of branches) to me, which means house wrens! Is the box where you saw some pine straw, because it is not there now, but there are sure more than 4 pieces of twigs. Blues would have grasses or pine needles in their box. Like others said, almost all birds love mealworms and could be eating them. Check out http://www.sialis.org for information on discoursing house wrens because they are a native bird & protected by law, but you can remove a “dummy” nest I believe. They will destroy bluebird (& other) eggs and/or toss babies out of the nest. Yes, your site may be the problem.
Never in my life have I heard this! Need for calcium is possible I guess, but it still sounds weird. I don’t believe there is anything like this on our bible website http://www.sialis.org. I know they eat the shells after babies are born, but before ????????
First of all, Welcome! Once the house wren knows where the box/hole is, it is going to be hard to keep them away. Is your box located in wren habitat, like lots of brush or shrubs around it? The only thing I can think of is to move the pole and box to a different location if possible, so they can’t find the box as easily. Unfortunately, we all learn from mistakes – your first nest should have had a guard up right after the first egg and the wrens maybe wouldn’t have located the hole. As far as the parents not going in after the installation of a guard or spooker, this is not customary, as they are committed to that nest once an egg is laid. However, it does take some females a little more time than others to accept it, but they usually do. I assume you did remove the old nest, didn’t you? Others forum members will chime in here to help you soon. I have been bluebirding 9 seasons now and have had some eggs destroyed by HOWR 2 or 3 times only. The key I believe is for them not to spot the hole to begin with. Also be sure your clearance (from hole to guard) on the wren guard is minimum of 2 1/2″ and we now truly believe 3″ is much better for the mama/parents to enter. I’m assuming you have found the http://www.sialis.org website in doing your research, as it is truly the one to use. Good luck & keep us posted.
