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There’s no way to really know and you listed all the possible scenarios, except also a House Sparrow attack. I’m like you and usually the eggs are still in the nest until I remove them. Usually if it’s a House Wren or a House Sparrow, eventually all the eggs will end up missing. Do you know about Sparrow Spookers? They really do help with House Sparrow competition. But they don’t help with House Wren attacks. There’s also Wren Guards for that. Do you need some links explaining those things?
Tammy
It’s hard to know, what to do. You’ll have to just make the final decision. Here’s my thoughts though.
The bluebirds could just be curious. They start looking at other nestboxes even while they have a nest full of babies. They love to peek in holes.
Usually it takes a few more days than a week for them to start new nests but it does happen. They are usually out training and feeding their fledglings.
What makes that nestbox undesirable? Does it open so you can monitor the nest? If it doesn’t have anything really wrong with it then I would just leave it until the end of this next nesting cycle. But I also think that if you went out and put up the other nestbox quickly that they wouldn’t have any problem bonding with that box. But I hate to tell you to do that and then have them disappear. It’s a guessing game.
If you can’t open the box to monitor then that’s an issue. The most fun part of being a bluebird landlord is watching what happens in your box and it’s wise too so you know if you need to step in and help.
Is the box deep enough? Or is it more like a house wren smaller box? That would be another big problem.Is there nesting material already in the box? How much? Half of a nest? That’s might sway me to let them nest.
Here’s a last suggestion: How quickly can you switch boxes? If it’s a quick procedure, put it up on a day where he is investigating the box and see if he is curious about this new box and goes in. If he does than you are safe. You could even put it up temporarily besides the older box. I once used a pitch fork to do a temporary box. I stuck the pitch fork in the ground and somehow attached a box to it temporarily. I think I did it to trap House Sparrows.
Keep us posted on what you do.Tammy
Ay yi yi. Sorry. I’ll let Cher know but I think we are out of ideas. But the mail system here is hard to navigate anyway. This platform I think is not being supported anymore so it doesn’t work the greatest. And it didn’t work so well to begin with. We had a very busy group on another platform but the ads starting coming in ferociously so we had to change.
Tammy
Another try. “direct”
https://i.postimg.cc/pTtrTwHv/Screenshot-2025-02-16-204221.png4Tammy
Testing the postimage webpage. Since I have house wrens now. Bummer.
https://postimg.cc/xktnpF8pTammy
Second Step. Check the allow emails box and then Click Save at the bottom.
Tammy
AIH I don’t think it’s working anymore. Members used to contact me that way but haven’t in awhile. I’ll ask Cher if she knows what is up. Even when it was working it was awkward and hard to find people so I don’t know if it’s even worth having. But I’ll ask Cher about it.
Tammy
Here’s another one. On this one you have to scroll down the page to see it. I make the pvc longer and attach it to the back of the box sometimes instead of the block of wood on top.
https://www.nestboxbuilder.com/nestbox-predator-controls.htmlTammy
House Sparrow most likely. So sorry. That’s heartbreaking!! If the 5th egg isn’t destroyed yet, then put that repeater trap right under the box, with seed in the bait tray and see if you can catch him. If the 5th egg is gone which I’m guessing is the case, usually the bluebirds won’t renest right away. If they act disinterested for several days remove the nest. If they are going in and out of the nest you may want to wait a bit to see what happens. Usually for me when something happens like this the parents loose interest and I clean out the nest and later they start building again. You’ll most likely have another nest. They have two or three per season.
Get a Sparrow Spooker made and put that up next time right after the first egg is laid. That reminds me I need to put mine up!!! I’ll give you some links.Tammy
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