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You said it yourself. It can be upsetting, but you can’t change a thing. The others could be hidden and not following. The thing is, there are many, many hazards out there for new fledglings to overcome. That is one of the reasons birds often have more than one brood per season.
Gin
Atlanta, GAWithout those little nametags which they refuse to wear, it’s hard to tell. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Honestly, I don’t know anybody who has succeeded with the barbed wire thing. I just sit here and problem solve and that came to me. If you do this, that wire is going to have to be spaced REALLY closely. You don’t want anywhere on that post for him to put his feet. Bear in mind raccoons can also jump, almost as well as cats.
I really encourage you to move the box to a pole ASAP. If you don’t want to tackle making the baffle, you can order poles and raccoon baffles online or buy them in any wild bird store.
Gin
Atlanta, GAMartha, do what Fred said. He’s right on target.
Lucky you! NO HOSP or HOWR! How did you manage that?
Gin
Atlanta, GAWood won’t help you. You could try barbed wire spaced very closely or a really big piece of sheet metal wrapped tightly around the post. The wire would hurt those little coon feet and the sheet metal would be almost impossible to climb. What you really need is a pole with a wobbling stovepipe baffle.
Gin
Atlanta, GAWhen the chicks reach a certain age, they are always loud when an adult shows up. That is normal. It sounds like whether or not she is feeding them is up for debate. I wouldn’t worry as long as the male is feeding them. Maybe that is just their division of labor.
Gin
Atlanta, GAA female wouldn’t remove her own chicks from the nest so it has to be a new female he found. She’s not about to raise chicks that aren’t her own, hence the removal. It’s all about keeping your own genes securely in the pool.
EABL are just like any other bird. If they want a nest site, they will take it if they can. I have seen males toss eggs but never a female toss chicks. It doesn’t surprise me even though I hate it. It’s just nature.
Gin
Atlanta, GADene, please leave the eggs alone. You can’t know at this point which bird is which. When you see ABSOLUTELY no activity for several days, and by this I mean NOBODY going in and out, it is safe to remove the eggs. To be really sure at that point, wedge a piece of grass or straw in the hole. If it is moved within 24 hours, that means somebody is entering and you missed seeing it.
The thing is it’s cruel to remove eggs that a female is still tending, however sporadically.
There is no hurry about removing eggs EVER. If a new pair wants the box this late in the season, they will remove the eggs or build over them.
Gin
Atlanta, GALisa, squirrels are not usually a problem. Guards sized for squirrels are good for poles used for feeders. That small size won’t stop anything else.
Gin
Atlanta, GAOne day I was stapling yet another cracker box to use as a guard. When I got it finished, the light bulb came on in my head. Hey, I thought. This looks just like a shoebox with one side removed. Tada!
Susan, I bet she’ll figure it out. It’s a rare bird who doesn’t.
Gin
Atlanta, GAWhitney, the guard you have at the hole is a Noel guard and, as you found out, not effective most of the time. You do need the pole with a wobbling stovepipe type baffle, sized for a raccoon. The squirrel size just won’t get it even though some people have tried that.
Gin
Atlanta, GADetailed instructions here: http://bluebirdnut.com/forums/topic/posting-tips-for-the-new-bluebird-nut-cafe/
Gin
Atlanta, GA
