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Carol and all, I have tried to get them to start building – even put some dry pine needles on the bottom of the box to help them get started – but not yet. I am thinking that they may have found another nest box nearby and just come to feed on he mealworms.
David
Stafford, VALisa, Carol is right about the feeding of mealworms to the new ones. I do not use dried worms at all. I raise mealworms for my birds and use the TMB cage feeder. I started mine to use the feeder by taking the bowl out of the feeder and using a copper wire holder to hold the glass bowl from the feeder with some mealworms. It did not take the bluebirds very long to start using the bowl. Then I put the bowl with mealworms into the cage with the top left open and let them get accustomed to the cage for about a week. When they accepted the cage, then I closed the top. It took a few try’s of fluttering around the cage before they hopped into the openings and onto the bowl for the worms. Have a little patience, they will find it and be happy that you are feeding them. You will have to watch if you have wrens and tufted titmice in the area. They are able to get into the cage and they also like the live mealworms.
David
Stafford, VAGlad to see the bluebirds starting to nest.
My nest box is lonely right now. The bluebirds come to the mealworm and seed feeders but have not started to build a nest. I may have to wait until the second round if they don’t start soon.David
Stafford, VAHi Sally. I am in NO. VA also (Stafford) and know what weather you are experiencing. Between a week of 70-80 degree teaser weather and then back to cold, rainy and sometimes snow, I am sure that the birds are confused. I have a pair that have been here all winter, in and out of the nestbox every day but no nest building yet. At this rate we will probably not have birds until the first part of June.
Keep us posted on your activity.David
Stafford, VAGood luck on the early nesting Carol.
Yes, I am still raising the mealworms My chimney for the wood stove needed to be repaired and that wasn’t completed until a month ago so the basement was too cold for good beetle production. I lost a whole drawer of beetles (around 7000) and was not able to get them restarted until 2 weeks ago. I wasn’t able to do my supply venture for the Wild Birds Unlimited store and am trying to get that project back online.
Still waiting for the blues to set up the nest. Still have another week of 30 degree nights.David
Stafford, VACongratulations Carol. I am still waiting for the weather to warm and stay above freezing. Blues at the feeders but no nest as of today
David
Stafford, VAWelcome to the forum “flipper.” Putting a bird house out is a start but not a guarantee. The birds will have to find your place and establish their territory. Since you have seen the blues in the area you can watch for them. Don’t be discouraged if the do not show up right away. One thing you must do is not to let house sparrows to establish a nest in the box. More on that in the other threads.
I am going to start a new thread there.David
Stafford, VAHi Mark and welcome to the forum. I collected data from members of the forum for this year’s nesting activity. It is posted down the discussions page with the title “Bluebird Numbers (all nests) update”
David
Stafford, VACarol, my first box was a standard NABS nestbox from Lowes. It was made from rough-cut cedar and had the slanted roof and a predator guard. I believe that it had a 4″x4″ floor. I put a 12″x12″ plywood shield over the slanted roof for a weather guard and after seeing discussions here about heat, I added a Styrofoam insulation sheet to the west facing side. it was easy to add a wren guard to this box by using a sized corrugated cardboard box lid and duct tape.
I have had several of the same kind of boxes as the initial box got battered by a woodpecker. I ordered my last one from Amazon. You might find a photo in one of my earlier posts.
David
Stafford, VAHere are the numbers by brood: Updated with Rich K’s numbers
FIRST BROOD
Number of nests: 14 reported
Number of Eggs: 59 reported
Number Hatched: 49 reported
Number Fledged: 31– need to read additional postsSECOND BROOD
Number of nests: 8 reported
3Number of Eggs: 38 reported
Number Hatched: 33 reported so far
Number Fledged: 33 reported so farThird Brood
Number of nests: 7 reported
Number of Eggs: 23 reported so far
Number Hatched: 22 reported so far
Number Fledged: 22 reported so farFourth Brood
Number of nests: 1 reported
Number of Eggs: 4
Number Hatched: 4
Number Fledged: 4For Totals so far, we have 30 nestings, 124 eggs laid, 108 hatched, and 90 new bluebirds in the air. We are missing reports from quite a few but as I mentioned elsewhere my internet has been down for more than a month and I am trying to catch up on posts to get additional data.
Thank you all who have sent this data. It does show that we are doing a pretty good job of keeping the Bluebird population growing..
David
Stafford, VAHere are the numbers by brood: Updated with Dana’ numbers
FIRST BROOD
Number of nests: 13 reported
Number of Eggs: 54 reported
Number Hatched: 49 reported
Number Fledged: 31– need to read additional postsSECOND BROOD
Number of nests: 7 reported
3Number of Eggs: 33 reported
Number Hatched: 29 reported so far
Number Fledged: 29 reported so farThird Brood
Number of nests: 6 reported
Number of Eggs: 19 reported so far
Number Hatched: 18 reported so far
Number Fledged: 18 reported so farFor Totals so far, we have 26 nestings, 106 eggs laid, 96 hatched, and 78 new bluebirds in the air. We are missing reports from quite a few but as I mentioned elsewhere my internet has been down for more than a month and I am trying to catch up on posts to get additional data.
David
Stafford, VAThank you Dana. It is good to hear from you. I will update the numbers with your data. Have a Happy Labor Day holiday.
David
Stafford, VA
