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Maybe he is telling mama (and the juveniles) to get back on the nest & trees for the evening if she is incubating eggs –
Who knows – I’m still trying to understand them after about 14 years! Are you sure they have not fledged? Mine fledged about 2 days early during this heat spell. Like it that you are keeping track of them – good luck!Annette, welcome to our forum. Goodness, you do have a problem – or actually the mama blue does. 14 days is the normal time for eggs to hatch and it would be a little late in the season any way, although where you live makes a difference. You could candle one egg to see if there is anything in it – the process for candling could be found on http://www.sialis.org. which is an excellent bluebird website with tons of information. If you do not wish to do this, I would just leave mama alone – she will get the idea they are not fertile at some point. Hope you will have better luck next year.
Well, mama blue stopped at 4 eggs (thankfully!) and began incubating I believe on Thursday – I did go out today late afternoon – whistled at the box and out she came – peeked in and saw the 4 eggs.
I’m sure at a loss about mealworms – I have just enough for maybe a week (feeding a small amount only one time a day). I am going to check the worm places to see if any are shipping again. These parents are feeding the last juveniles and I actually got to see one on the worm cage this morning – it did not eat any worms but did show up. I know there are plenty of bugs around, but when this 4th nesting fledge they will have their hands full – on well, this is when parents say “time to be on your own”. Hope everyone else on here is having good luck with their nests.Thanks, Julie – yes they are not getting nearly the amount of worms as usual and yes, there are plenty of bugs out there – have cut back to one small feeding in the morning – they are bringing them to the big trees where I suspect the just fledged birds are – but I am not getting to see the parents bring the young ones to the worm bowl where they just flutter and flutter begging for the worms – that is the #1 best fun of this whole hobby!
P.S. now have 3 eggs as of this morning.UPDATE – well, 2nd egg was found today – guess they are going to do their “thing”. Enjoy them but this box is a distance from our home and not as easy to see to know what is going on. On well . . .
UPDATE: First BB egg in box #4 was found this morning -this will be a FIRST 4th nesting I have ever had in one season – I am pretty sure it is the same parents as other 3 nests because I just see the two of them around here. I will need to get my sparrow spooker up later today – after it cools down some. Wow, more work – and I will be out of worms in about 1 week or two – guess they will have to fend for themselves as no one will ship worms in this heat!
Dave, looks like your heat shield should help in that extreme heat – main problem I see is the box is mounted on a wooden pole – this is a no-no for future nests. Snakes, critters, cats, etc. can climb that pole easily and get at the birds. Best to mount it on a slick pole which needs to be heavy enough to withstand winds. Check out the http://www.sialis.org website for information on this. With brush close to the box there will undoubtedly be all kinds of critters nearby. However in looking further the box might not be as close to the brush as the picture appears.
Best of luck.Dave, I’m not familiar with measurements but if it was small enough it will work its way into the nesting material I believe – I don’t believe they would try to remove it – others need to chime in here . . . . I just open my boxes and look in (old fashioned way).
Stebet, I’ve not had this happen so really can’t help you other than don’t give up. Maybe they are just taking a break – and maybe it is those hawks keeping them away – hope they return.
David, it sure didn’t take me long to realize the importance of the wren guard until in my earlier years I found BB eggs pierced and broken on the ground several times. I was heart-broken and very next season my homemade (wooden) spooker was up right after 1st egg was laid.
I can’t tell you exactly, since it is homemade, but I got the pattern/information from the http://www.sialis.org/wrens.htm website. Like I mentioned the old recommendation for space between the front of the nest box and the guard used to be 2 1/2 inches but is now recommended 3″ which is a lot better for the birds to get into the hole. There is a really good picture of this wren guard on that website. This morning I was able to see one of my blues peeking out of their hole which you cannot see with the wren guard on. First time this year out of three boxes I have been able to see one peek.
The trick on wren guards is this – you do NOT put on the wren guard UNTIL after the 1st egg is laid – when this happens they are committed to that box and usually will go in after a time or two. And I usually already have a sparrow spooker on the pole right away – the blues will even stand on the spooker keeping an eye out for unwanted birds.
Tammy, my wren guard does hang a little below the hole, maybe 1/2 to 1 inch. Main measurement for the wren guard is the distance from the front of the box out to the spooker, which needs to be about 3 inches – they used to recommend 2 1/2 inches but then came out with the 3″ (this is to the back side of the guard – the clearance area) which I do believe is better so the birds can have room to swoop under the guard to get in the box.
