Yes!! I just love hearing that another successful Bluebird fledging has occurred. It is always so exciting to know you helped another five baby blues safely into the world. Congratulations.

Oh Lisa!!!! I forgot about him bringing the poop sacks.....now I am really crying!!! I thought that was so funny and I remember watching 4 him and opening the door and saying "don't u drop that here" and he would drop it in the grass. I am really gonna miss him. What a special little bird he was :( I remember ur TRES :( It is really sad the way I get attached 2 my birds....like losing a part of the family. I sure hope I get another family of blues. In the mean time...I will protect the tres. Karen

congrats! Those babies are a few days old already. There is a spot in the www.sialis.org site that has pictures of "egg to fledge" or something like that. My guess is about 3 days but you have a beter view. Anyway, you want to mark your calendar so you do not open the box after day 13. Good Luck!

Linda, If you look at these picture you can see how I put eye screws in the top of the box. Then I tied a couple 3/4 inch washers on the end of the fish line for weight, that's so the line doesn't blow around and get tangled up. You don't want it hanging too close to the opening or there is a risk of the blues getting tangled in it. Then put it through the other eye screws and tie washers on the other end. If you look closely at the second photo you can see where I filed a very narrow notch in the roof so the string hangs in the same place all the time. Just pull it down tight in the notch being carefull not to break it. Also in the first picture you see the silver mylar ribbons hanging on the box. That is the curly gift wrapping ribbon type stuff that you put on Christmas or birthday gifts. It's waterproof and it blows around in the wind. For some reason I can't explain, the sparrows won't go near it. I learned that trick from another Bluebird web site. A woman researcher in CA. discovered that the sparrows don't like it. As far as the screen inside, I left mine in so the nest is off the bottom of the box so it stays dry. There are vents that let the air circulate and that also helps it stay cooler since the box is out in the open sun. I also left the pegs in because the blues will roost on them during cold weather. They didn't seem to be in the way when the adults were going completely inside the box to feed the little ones or to remove the fecal sacs. In the pictures it looks like the box is close to the fence, but it's about eight feet away from it mounted on a pole with a baffle and grease on the pole below the baffle. After the babies fledged I cleaned the box out the next day and the nesting material was free of any bugs and completely dry. Leaving the box just the way I bought it seemed to work just fine so I won't change it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is my motto. I hope this helps you, I had a successful nesting and now the parents are bringing the young ones to my feeder for the mealworms I put out every day. My success is a combination of luck, research and all the help from members of this forum. I hope I get lucky and have another nesting but it's getting late in the season and the nights are already getting pretty cool here in the mountains of eastern WV.