How wonderful. Congratulations. There is nothing like knowing you are helping bring more Blues into the world.

You can move a nestbox with eggs but you have to be very very careful...it is much easier to move a nestbox before the eggs are laid. Conduit is the easiest thing to mount a nestbox on, 3/4" or 1" is the sturdiest. I usually just have a 10ft piece and pound 4 1/2 feet into the ground but 3 feet would be plenty to have in the ground too (some have only 2ft) so you could have it cut. Get a piece of 6 or 8" stovepipe (they come in 2ft lengths) and an end cap for the stovepipe. Drill a hole in the endcap the size of the conduit and place a emt clamp on the pole where the baffle will be (I have mine about 6" or so under the nestbox) set the endcap on the clamp to hold it in place and place the stovepipe around that, attaching it to the cap. Those are from instructions that make it pretty easy...I do mine just a bit differently as I am not up on power tools. ( I clip the top of the stovepipe and fold it over the top of the cap part and use a tin snips to cut the hole in the top/cap. Oh and it should be wobbly...that is what deters the coons the most is the wobble. I then use one hole straps to attach the nestbox to the conduit. Two hole straps aren't as sturdy and won't hold the box as tight as you need it to. Good luck..hopefully you can get things moved quickly before they start laying again. My first year with bluebirds I had them nesting in a nestbox on a wooden post. First nesting went fine..nestlings fledged. Second nesting the nestlings gotten eaten by raccoons when they were 12 days old. I was so sad! After that we put up a properly mounted nestbox and then added more and I also have a small trail at a park now too. Good luck..let us know if you need any more help, especially if you end up moving things when there are eggs. Oh and check out the sparrow spooker page on sialis.org in case you have House Sparrows in the area. Also wren gaurds in case of House wrens...they aren't always needed depending on where you box is located. At my place the boxes on the west side of the house normally need guards as they are closer to the woods, on the east side I never have a wren problem as a road and an open field are there. Donna

That is good news. At least they visit, and are probably aware there is a box there. Maybe they'll nest there when the Nuthatches are done.

I would like to update my case. The HOSP made one more attempt (when the wounded BB baby was still alive, but seemed could not compete for food), but that time I noticed that BB parents behaved strange and hesitated to enter the house, though they did not sound very concerned. Just in case I approached the house and stuck my finger in, as soon as I puled it out, the HOSP male flew out and I even touched him, BB parents chased him away. If I knew it before I could catch him. I checked the BB babies and they were fine but scared. I was sure that day the HOSP would not return, The next morning, 2 days later after the first HOSP attack, I found the wounded BB dead and the BB female tried to carry him out. I made her leave the house, took out and disposed the dead BB (smell was already bad). I decided to exploit the smartness of the HOSP against him. As I mentioned he leaned that the spooker was not dangerous, and fishing line was also useless against him. I opened the front wall and left it open to serve as a perch site. Instead I attached two-entry patch and stuck it with a scotch tape. I was certain that the HOSP would be too smart to ignore the sudden transformation of the BB house. Besides the house started looking more scary, like having two big eyes. The other thing I pursued with this transformation is to have emergency exit or entrance, since the HOSP would not be able to block the both holes at the same time. With the 2 holes there was more light inside and I could check the nestlings without opening the door. At first the BB parents were confused, but shortly they figured out their babies were still inside and doing well. As the result I have not seen the HOSP around anymore, the BB parents became more defensive and the three BB babies have fledged yesterday. Now I need an advice or opinion: a) I take the BB house down until I significantly reduce HOSP population. Actually the HOSP infestation was not too bad first, but then numerous young HOSPs fledged from the neighbors house and the area became heavily infested. That house is like the HOSP farm, and at the same time HOSPs would almost never seat on my roof. b) I keep the BB house with the transformed front wall, c) I restore the house to its original shape, where I can set up a trap as needed. Thanks. This post was edited by stal14 on Wed, Jul 2, 14 at 11:24