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My female did that last year pretty often. She’s not doing it in this box, though. Hope all goes well!
Thanks. Glad to hear there are other birds doing the same.
So cool the eggs are white! Congrats on the fledging! I’m in AL & mine just laid their 2nd egg today for 3rd brood. Not sure how hot it is there, but I’m particularly concerned about the heat on this one. Put up a big heat shield yesterday. If yours do come back for a 3rd, I would think you’d need a shield, too. What are your current temps?
Nicole
Yes, I am also concerned about the heat and I added some “heat shields” awhile back. I just used some white plastic sign material, cut it with scissors, and screwed it on with some airspace between the plastic and box (using thumbtacks for spacing) and it seems to work well. Of course it still gets hot in there but probably not nearly as hot as it would be if it didn’t have the shading.
I’ll expect this to be the last nesting but I’ll leave it out & available just in case.
Oh, and congrats on having a 3rd brood! Lucky you. :)
UPDATE: Another pair (or maybe the same female because the eggs were all white again!) laid 4 eggs and this time all 4 hatched. They fledged yesterday and I cleaned out the box again. I’m wondering if it’s too late for another brood this season? I’m in Texas so I would think there is enough time left as it’s only mid July and doesn’t really start getting cold here until late October.
Once again, timetables vary so much it’s impossible to predict when/if the next round will begin.
Monitoring does not deter them from choosing a box for a repeat if they were successful in it. Hatch rate doesn’t determine success but fledging does.
That’s good to hear… so they must consider it a “success” then even though only 2 eggs hatched and I was probably a bit “bothersome” to them with all my monitoring. I guess I can’t really do anything else except just hang tight and see what happens. :)
Congrats on the 2 fledging! Hope they give it another go when you get box back up & running!
Thanks! Me too.
I am anxiously awaiting for another family or the same family to build another nest……. watching with my nest cam. I have never seen a nest build or egg laying with my nest cam since it was never installed that early before.
I’m curious, if the same birds are going to build another nest, how long would it generally be? Is there a certain time frame to expect?
Also, I wonder if all my monitoring and the other people that were around the nest would bother them enough to decide not to build there again even though they had a successful brood (excepting the 3 eggs that were duds).
UPDATE: The two fledged just moments ago and I have empty nest syndrome.
Should I remove the nest or leave it there in hopes that the female lays some more eggs?
I removed them and am glad I did so I don’t have to look at the constantly in my nest cam. It looks like 2 of them didn’t even start to develop (or maybe they did but stopped very early). Another egg had something in it that must have died. Sad but that’s [bird] life. The two that did make it are still doing well.
Hope they have another brood before the summer is out and are more successful… and of course I hope these two successfully make it out of the nest when it’s time. Last time (last year) I think they fledged a little prematurely because a snake was around and the parents went wild.
Hi David, the first egg hatched 5/3 so I will remove unhatched eggs on Saturday (5/7). Hope there is not still 3 of them though. Thanks.
Unfortunately only 2 of the 5 eggs have hatched. First egg hatched around 8:30 AM on May 3rd… the second one not long after that but it is now almost 11 AM on May 5th. I guess I should remove the 3 eggs if they don’t hatch tomorrow (it will have been 3 days+ since the first one hatched)?
Thanks all. Here’s an update: she started incubating the day she laid the last egg (the 5th one). I’m planning to install a nest cam today so wish me luck…… I’m afraid I might damage the eggs or spook them off but it went well last year.
Here’s a pic of the 5 white bluebird eggs that I took a couple days ago. The lighting is different this time and they look more white to me.
Thanks all. There are 5 eggs now! I wonder when she’ll stop laying.
Anyway, hopefully the egg membrane is intact. By the way, in Chrome you can right-click on that image and open it in a new tab to see the photo larger… you can really see the imperfections better.
I’m relieved that no one said they were bad eggs.
