A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum My bluebirds

We put up 1 house Saturday and yesterday they started building the nest. Here they are today.










We put up another box yesterday and they've already started a nest in it too.

Beautiful shots, Sheri! Do you still have snow on the ground there? I guess all the birds are in spring mode now.

no snow. It's 80 degrees.

Thornius, I have a bluebird ?.

On Saturday we put up the first bluebird house and by Sunday they had started building a nest. They added to it Monday and Tuesday.

On Monday we put up another house about 100 -150 feet away and on Tuesday there was the start of a nest in there too. I took the above pictures on Tuesday and sat and watched them work on the nest in house #1.


Today when I checked the nests, #1 has had the stuff starting at the back of the house taken out. I can see the bottom of the bird house(in the back) now. Do you think the birds have moved into the other house?

WOW He's Beautiful Sheri!!!!!!!!!!! Lucky YOU!!!!!!!!

I don't know what's going on with your bluebirds. bluebirds (and especially Goldfinches) can be fickle. They sometimes start one nest and then abandon it and start another one elsewhere. Your nest box should be at least 300 feet from any other nest boxes or human buildings for BEST results, although if you are getting activity in BOTH boxes you should be fine. The only birds you DON'T want nesting in your boxes are House Sparrows and Starlings. ANYTHING else is OK.

the instructions that came with our houses said 100 - 150 yards from each other. Hmmm. I don't think it's other birds because I've sat out there 2 days, not too close, and watched 2 birds in house #1. I didn't watch house #2.

I found this on an Eastern bluebird site

Female bluebirds inspects several nest sites and may start several nests before finishing one within this territory.



So maybe we just have 2 bluebirds instead of the 2 couples I thought.

here is the nest today. Still no eggs.

OH! GREAT SHERI! Now try to leave the nest alone a few days to see what develops!

thorn, the info I've got says the bird will lay 1 egg a day for a while. I think they're are 3 in there now.

They DO lay ONE egg per day. She should lay 1-2 more and then incubate them for about 13 days. Then the babies hatch and about 13 days after that they leave the nest and the female readies things for her SECOND batch of eggs. The fathers and new babies help the mom all they can. You should have babies around April 12 and they should be leaving then nest around April 25. Then around the First of May she should start incubating again and around May 26 the Second batch of young will leave. Then she will probably start on a THIRD batch.

Thanks Thornius. We're going to try and put our cat up around those dates.

there are 5 teeny, tiny eggs in the nest now. I haven't looked for a week but I couldn't stand it. They're so tiny they don't look real.

That's them! You'll soon have 5 bluebirds.

should I clean out the house in between? Will she use the same nest the entire season?

No. Don't clean out the box UNTIL the end of the season, around October. She may or may not use the SAME nest. Often, they do.

gracias.

went to check on the eggs today and was attacked by dad.

Try to leave the nest alone until the young leave. View it from a distance using Zoom on your camera or a pair of binoculars.

GREAT SHOT OF DAD, THOUGH!!!

Thorn, the reason I keep aggravating them is I got this information from the bluebird Society

"Do not put up a bluebird box if you do not plan to monitor it. Check your bluebird boxes at least once a week during the nesting season, until chicks are close to fledging.


Do not open the box after nestlings are 12 to 14 days old. Doing so could result in the nestlings leaving the box before they are able to fly, greatly reducing their chance of survival."


I'm supposed to check for parasites and remove the eggs and nest and clean the box then return the nest if I find any.

Good advice! Wait until you see BOTH parents leave, then work QUICKLY!

Okey dokey. If you want to check that bluebird box go right ahead. I walked down there today, waited until I thought mom and dad were gone and walked down to the box. I was attacked from both sides. Evidentially they don't fly far from the nest. I wonder if they would really bounce off my head.

I had a Blue Jay bounce off my head after giving me a bloody gash on it, a couple of years ago.

I'm staying from them.

if you can enlarge this picture you can sort of see the 5 baby birds. They have a few feathers now. We're not going to open it again because I don't want them to fledge too soon. Mom and dad were quite nice today which worried me to start with. It made me think they were either dead or gone but nope. Mom wasn't sitting on the nest when we arrived so maybe that makes the difference.



I've read about feeding them mealy worms. Where does one place mealy worms out in a field? If I put up a stand I'm concerned it will draw killer cat to the area.

still standing guard

The 5 babies left Saturday 5/2/09. They all made it out and I'm guessing since Lizzy the Killer Cat hasn't dragged one up to show off that they made it off into the wild blue. Birds are fast. They started their nest 3/10 and the birds are gone by 5/2.

I've heard conflicting stuff about too clean or not too clean out the house now. What should I do?

Do NOT clean. Momma will reline the nest and lay another clutch of eggs. Daddy and the young will help her. Congratulations!! You have now increased your bluebird population by 250%

I'm so proud.

I just seen my first bluebird here,in my bk yard
where i hung a house i brought at a second hand place
I am hoping they will make a nest,cause later i seen two out there
so hope male n female,
got this shot and one other

so I guess I will take a pick in it soon and see if any thing is in there

cool. love the house.

Sheri and Bettyboop, hope all your efforts with the bluebirds are successful. They are such beautiful birds, so please keep the photos coming!

I've been watching my house and haven't seen any action. Wonder how long it will be before they nest again. One of the bluebirds was eating at my feeders at the house last night.

They may build a nest elsewhere. They don't ALWAYS reuse the nest.

Now you're just being mean.

I HOPE they do!

Bestof four,I am hoping you get some baby's.I have seen 2 in my bk yard ,
I am going to look in my house later and see what is going on ,they both have been here today
all day and they go in and out of there,so I am going to nosy later and take the camera with me too just in case,I have noticed that one is pretty blue on bk and the other is not so blue,So I guess maybe it mean's male n female.
Here are some pic's I took of them





I even seen a Oriole I think it was sure pretty here is the pic I got

maybe Thorny will know

That's an Oriole alright. It's a male, and I BELIEVE it is a Baltimore Oriole.