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So this morning the Blues were in the yard again. Have seen them four mornings now out of the last week. Hope they decide to nest here.
IMG_8080ac by rzyg[/url], on Flickr
IMG_8084ac by rzyg[/url], on Flickr
IMG_8107ac by rzyg[/url], on FlickrDonna in WI
Thanks Gin, she is 10, which for a cocker really isn’t that old. The other two are 8 and almost 4.
Donna in WI
If there are less than 10 blowfly larva per nestling you don’t need to do anything. Lifting the nest on day 13 should NOT be done, I speak from experience. Typically I lift the nest on day 6 and brush out the bottom of larva. I once forgot and did it on day 13 and one nestling fledged and could not fly at all! It actually spent the night in the garage without my knowledge! The next morning (day 14) I put it back in the box and then it and another fledged and neither could fly. Put them back in the box and put a hole reducer on the box. It really was an awful experience since I caused it by lifting that nest on day 13. I took the reducer off on day 15 and they all fledged, the one could still not fly a lick but I let it be since the others got to the trees. It did survive thankfully. However I would never mess with anything in the box from day 13 and on unless you have dead or dieing nestlings. (I did loose two nestlings once to blowfly larva but it was due to having around 60 larva in a box with three nestlings, one made it since I discovered the two dead and did nest change.) My nest this year I hadn’t done the brushing out of the box and when they fledged on day 17 there were probably 20ish larva in there, they all fledged and flew just fine though.
Donna in WI
I would have removed the screen entirely, nests get flattened out by the nestlings. My momma blue this year sat on her egs all day even during the hot spell we had. Mine just fledged on Tuesday.
Donna in WI
They probably are non viable by now but I would still wait until the female decides she is done. I had a female one year with no male and she laid eggs, none hatched. When she finally decided they weren’t going to hatch she built a nest in another box and laid more eggs, none hatched. Crazy bird. I didn’t remove either nest until I knew she was done with it.
Donna in WI
Ugh, so sorry!!
I use Flickr and on there you can pick the size you want your photo to show up as.
Donna in WI
Feeding waxworms would not have an effect on whether or not the young could fly. Do you know how old (from hatching) this second brood was? What about the first one, what day did they fledge on. Just one extra day in the box can make the difference between a flyer and a non flyer.
Hope the neighbors dog didn’t get that one that flew over there!
Donna in WI
The Dees fledged this past weekend, baby TRES are peeking from the box and the Blues (4 eggs) should be hatching this weekend.
Donna in WI
Yep, I agree with Gin, get a baffle on that pole, no need to worry if it is waxed enough if you just add a piece of stovepipe. A coon could easily climb up that.
Hope your Blues decide to nest again!
Donna in WI
Congrats on the PROWs!! Hope you get some Blues yet.
Hope you feel back to normal soon too!!
Donna in WI
How far away from the flagpole did you put the box? You don’t want any predator being able to reach or jump from the pole to the box. Assuming that is, that the pole the box is on is baffled.
Good luck getting the blues back. How far apart will the two boxes be? I had to go at least 25 feet apart to get to different birds nesting in paired boxes, any closer and the first bird to claim one box would protect both boxes. Some people to have success though having them closer than that.
Donna in WI
It looks like one to me. My female this year started nest building on Sunday morning and was finished on Tuesday, laid her first egg on Thursday.
Donna in WI
So sorry about all this happening! I had a bluebird pair one year in which the female laid four eggs and the male disappeared. He was gone for five full days and she stayed an incubated those eggs the whole time. I trained her to a mealworm feeder during this time. He did return on the 5th day and I am assuming it was her mate as he cared for the nestlings once they hatched too.
Also I have had a female return one year without a male and she laid eggs and half of them hatched and she raised them by herself. She was a bit of an oddball though, she was here for five years!
Good luck!!
Donna in WI
