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I’ve been following this thread because I have major heat concerns coming up this week. Five tiny ones in that house and temperatures above 90 all week. I guess I am just brainstorming too, but I was thinking about those shiny looking sunshades that people use on the insides of their car windshields to keep their cars cooler. I haven’t thought it through long enough to suggest an application for the material, but it seems that if one of those could be used to shade the birdhouse, it would reflect the sun and heat off of the house. I have to give it some more thought.
Susan
PennsylvaniaGood luck with those eggs. I have five eggs in the nest. Today is day 13 from the last egg being laid. I was looking for hatching yesterday, but as of the evening, it was just eggs. I was on an outing today since morning, so I haven’t had a chance to see if any hatching went on while I was gone. I like to wait until evening to check the box because I usually spot the parents sitting together on my pool fence. I prefer checking when I know she’s not in there. It has been terribly hot and humid for the past two weeks, I hope the eggs are okay.
Susan
PennsylvaniaI just made a new wren guard for my box today. I can’t really use a shoe box because my house has a triangular gable in the front. My old one was made out of cardboard and covered with packing tape, but we have had just too many storms around here and it got soggy. I was afraid it would sag down and block the hole, so I had to take it down. I went to a craft store and bought a few small sheets of balsa wood. I cut it, glued and tacked the sides, sprayed it with Thompson’s water seal, and put it on the house today. I actually think it may help to cool the house because it casts more shade. I left 3.5 inches of space from the hole to the front of the guard. It’s really sturdy, but the only thing I don’t like is that I can’t open the lid of the house with it on. I will have to open the side to monitor the eggs/babies. I don’t have the plexiglass in mine.
Susan
PennsylvaniaI’m glad to hear that. I’m sure the bluebirds will be watching me carefully. I can’t even get close to that house without spotting at least one of the birds keeping an eye on me.
Susan
PennsylvaniaYes, it is scary. I spent a good deal of time this a.m. looking at raccoon baffles online. Unfortunately, when reading reviews, even the cylindrical type have failed for some users. However, they still seem more successful overall than the cone one that I have. I am expecting hatchlings this weekend. I hate to lift the bluebird house off of the pole to install the raccoon baffle, but that is the only way to get it on.
Susan
PennsylvaniaYou know, one of the things that is frustrating about this is that the only dead birds I have seen all summer have been baby bluebirds over the past two weeks (since the fledge). . . and let me tell you, my property is CRAZY with birds. I can sit on my front porch and count at least 10 different types of birds at any time of the day. It’s not that I want the other birds to die, it’s just upsetting that it always has to be my bluebirds.
I still may do the ammonia sticks, but just around the big pine trees where I have seen cats stalking the birds.
Susan
PennsylvaniaCongratulations! It sounds like you’ve had a very successful year. Maybe your little grandson will become a future “bluebirder.” Good luck with that last nest. :)
Susan
PennsylvaniaYou’re probably right. My husband already questions my sanity. I’m already the “crazy chihuahua lady” and the “crazy bird lady.” The Popsicle sticks might force him to have me committed.
However, if I go crazy with the sticks, I promise to take pictures!
Susan
PennsylvaniaThanks for the advice. I will look into either buying or making the cylinder type this weekend.
Susan
PennsylvaniaI know what you mean. I know that my neighbors simply released these poor kitties somewhere else. It made me feel terrible. They did not do the responsible thing and have them spayed or neutered. I also believe that some of the kitties could be strays that would be suitable for a shelter. I did not have the resources to trap the cats, I tried to lore the one into my dog crate using food, but I was unsuccessful. To be honest, I like cats, but I was never allowed to have them as a child (dad was a cat-hater). Hence, I am a little uncomfortable around cats. I’m definitely more of a dog person.
Right now, I just want to do whatever I can to give my baby blues a better chance. :-)
Susan
PennsylvaniaSo this kind isn’t good? This is the one I have and it’s wobbly. I tried to add a direct link, but it didn’t work. It’s on Amazon at this URL: https://www.amazon.com/Woodlink-NABAF18-Audubon-Squirrel-18-Inch/dp/B0010QD5QO/ref=pd_sim_86_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=G6E4450KY9MCVA5EJZTQ
Susan
PennsylvaniaYour experience with cats is definitely different from mine. Last fall, for the first time in the 22 years that I have lived in this house, my yard was overrun by cats. I have six chihuahuas who barked their bloody heads off every time a cat was spotted. The cats didn’t care. They just stared back, but they never “went home” to the cat lady across the street unless I walked up to them and told them to go home. I had a pair of mourning doves who nested in a tree in my front yard. The cats killed one of the doves and I witnessed them stalking my bird feeder throughout the winter on a number of occasions. After finding my third dead dove, I asked my neighbors to please stop drawing cats to the neighborhood. I’m not talking a cat or two. There had to be at least 15 cats. Maybe they just weren’t feeding them enough.
Since they trapped a bunch of the cats and took them away, it’s not as bad, but I do see a black cat crossing through my yard every week or so.
Susan
Pennsylvania
