I would remove the whole nest and let her start over. If she builds a nest on top of the nest it will be to high and starlings and bluejays might be able to reach in the box and grab a baby. Good luck with this nest! Karen

How wonderful , I would definatly send this story and photos to Cornell http://www.nestwatch.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=577 , It would be a great story to put on the Cornell nestwatch site. May even want to send to Birds and Blooms mag, they love these stories and we are talking about an unusual nesting in flowers!! I think you get some kind of compensation if B&B uses your story. www.birdsandblooms.com keep us up dated!

The Mom has to get them through the first few days. You always want to be 100% positive the female is gone, they do not always start incubating right away. A new female will not care for this nest. If Pop is not calling for a new mate Im not so sure Mom is really gone. You said it is very warm there, she may just be hoping in to turn them and you are missing her. Even if you THINK you are 100% sure she is gone I would still candle the eggs before disposing of them. (Shine a bright light through them to see if they are clear or if there is a mass inside)be sure your hands are clean. If the eggs are clear and your sure it has been 3 weeks you can assume the female is gone and you can remove the nest (but keep it for emergencies). Go to www.sialis.org to learn all you can about Blues and other cavity nesters. Please be 100% sure she is gone. Good Luck!

Lydia 1959...As far as it's known, from decades of research by the PMCA and other organizations, the Purple Martins in the eastern half of the U.S. nest only in man-made cavities, and near human activity. Since the times before Columbus they have "imprinted" on humans. The eastern Native Americans lured them to their villages and gardens by setting natural gourds on sticks and dead trees. They knew when the Purple Martins were near, the flying insects were kept at bay. There is a small scattering of PMs on the west coast, and they seem to be nesting in single family groups around piers. There was a lot of excitement when a colony was discovered nesting in drainage pipes under highway overpasses around the Sacramento area. Still, for the vase majority of the Purple Martins, and the entire eastern population, it's man made housing. You can see the problem since fewer and fewer people are offering, and safely managing, housing for them. The PMs, along with our native blue birds, started declining in the 1950s and were fast approaching endangered status. The main causes were lack of housing being offered to them, loss of wooden fence posts in the case of the blue birds, and the explosion of the imported, non-native English House Sparrow that will kill/destroy any cavity nester, its eggs and its chicks, that it can find...PMs, bluebirds, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, etc. all fall prey to these non-natives. So, loss of habitat, explosive numbers of non-native competitors, and a lack of well-managed housing not being offered is the main culprits of the decline of our native cavity nesters. I wish you could come visit. I sit under the feeder tree each morning with my tea and listen to the beautiful chatter, chortles, and songs of the PMs. They're here for such a short time, but I try to enjoy them enough to last the rest of the year. They travel to and from southern Brazil each year to raise their families. They come back to the same colony each year. They are magical!