[Deb]

My husband called 6 wildlife rehabilitation centers and they’re all full. One suggested to find another box and stuff them in with the other babies. Another said they’ll fledge eventually but as we all know, they still need their parents after fledging. I don’t think finding another box isn’t practical or a good idea. Maybe if they do go out on their own they’ll find another brood is my only hope. I’ve been sticking mealworms into the box for them. One stuck it’s head out and let me put a mealworm right up to it but didn’t take it.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Deb.

[Deb]

If you bet that the male found a love interest you lost that bet. I found a pile of feathers about 1,000 feet from the box. These babies are doomed do die now I guess.

[Deb]

No all 5 are in the box still. They’re poking their heads out calling. It’s truly heartbreaking. We’ve been sticking mealworms in there for them. Male is still nowhere to be found. :(

[Deb]

Thanks Sassy. What is concerning/troubling me now is watching the EABLs continue to hang around the chickadee box. From what I understand and experience they typically won’t nest again in the same season where a box was raided. I just hope they don’t harass the Chickadees to abandon.

I hope your HOWR problem goes away too. We’ve plugged many house holes here for this very reason. Made the mistake of letting them nest one year. Like the site Sialia.org says, “If you allow House Wrens to use your boxes, I predict you will regret it in time.” Made that mistake once…once!

[Deb]

Thanks Carol. I saw the male carrying stuff out of the box but no sooner than that, does a chickadee show up! An hour or so later, I went out to check, the female chickadee flew out and there are 4 eggs underneath the fur “plug” that the male EABL must’ve pulled out. Looks like this house belongs to the chickadees – now it looks like I need to put up a wren guard. Hopefully I can convince the bluebirds to move back into the house that pesky wren raided. For such a small bird they sure do make a BIG problem.

[Deb]

Thanks Randy. That’s good advice. I see you’re from Bedford, NH. We bought this house from that store in Amherst, NH. I remember many years ago when we lost the male nesting in an ornamental house and when the babies finally fledged we thought something got them too, the owner of the store gave me similar advice but the house and the seed feeders are like 70 feet apart. I’m wondering had I left the feeders out the bear would’ve gone after them and not bothered with the box.

[Deb]

Thanks Randy! I think we’ll put the Van Ert into one and plug the other. Never had much luck with the DRST with the exception of a few mice in the winter! Luckily we only have one or two rogue ones show up every spring.

[Deb]

Nicole – Thanks for the suggestion!
Hugh – One other thing we’ve done with the wrens is play their calls from the University of Cornell (we have their “Merlin” app on our mobile phones) standing nearby one of the houses he’s putting sticks into. It makes the male think there’s a competing male in the territory and seems to keep him sticking very closely to that box.

Like we said before, it was far less stressful when we stumbled into this as they nested in our decorative box in the front and we had no idea what perils awaited them.

[Deb]

The question that we’re debating over is, do we just plug the wren holes now or will that drive them to go after the EABL box then?

[Deb]

Hi Hugh – The wren guard seems to be the defacto solution offered by many here but to our dismay, even with a 3″ clearance to the house opening, our EABL female refused to lay eggs until my husband removed it. I think the best thing to do is to try it and see if the female will go in or see if you have another egg the next day. We have a wren that is doing the exact same thing in our other box, so we’ve been keeping him busy by removing the sticks on a daily basis. It’s nerve-racking but seems to keep him preoccupied while we have a group of 7 day old chicks.

[Deb]

We put up a piece of birch cut to the width of the house extending just below the entrance hole with 2″ clearance at the bottom and a bit more at the top but the female just hovered around the house. The male was swooping at my husband while he put it up. On a positive note we have 2 eggs this morning. If we don’t get a third tomorrow should we remove the guard? Also, should we plug the other house where the first brood was destroyed or give the wren something to keep busy with (he and the male HOSP were dueling over it yesterday). We’re having a debate about both in the human house. I sometimes long for the days years back when there was an ornamental house in the front and we just stumbled into becoming bluebirders

[Deb]

Thanks for all the advice! We got a new nest with one egg in it this morning! Is now a good time to put up the HOSP spooker and wren guard? Or should I wait for a second egg?

[Deb]

They’re looking at the box in the front yard although I now have the male looking at the old box as well. About 9 years ago we had a pair of HOSPs drive out our EABLs and that’s when I had Mr. Van Ert was kind enough to overnight me a trap on goodwill before I paid him. Once we were rid of those pests, the EABLs came back to the box and tidied up the pig sty left by the sparrows. I’ve heard of people microwaving nests after the fledglings go and place it back into the box to promote a second brood (I love EABLs but not sure I’m putting a bird’s nest into my microwave :).

[Deb]

Well they are looking now at the house in the front yard….hope…hope…hope.

[Deb]

Thanks Donna. I think you’re right about it being a wren after watching the video on http://www.sialis.org/howrattack.htm but strangely enough I’ve not heard that little chatterbox nor have found any sticks in the vacant boxes we have.

[Author]

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