So sorry this has happened to you after good luck for so long. My first thought is House Wrens, they can and will pierce eggs and throw eggs and or young nestlings from the nestbox. Normally once the nestlings are 7+ days old they are too big for the wren to throw out though. How old were the baby blues? sialis.org has info on house wrens and lots of other great info on hosting bluebirds and other cavity nesting birds. Glad to hear you have a spooker up if you have HOSP in the area...they aren't nesting in another box in your yard are they? If you have HOSP in the area, house sparrow management is a must. Also just to make sure, is your box mounted on a slick metal pole with a predator baffle and at least 15 feet away from any fence/tree or anything a predator could jump from?

What you need to do right now to get the Blues to renest is to clean out the nest and either move the box a bit away from where it was (unless you have another empty box near there) or move the direction of the box..if it was facing east, maybe turn it north. Normally Blues will not renest in a box that they had a failed nesting in but by moving or turning it, they might renest. However if this was a house wren you may end up with the same problem. Wren guards work (sialis has this info too) but normally if the wren knows the box is there, they would still find the hole with the wren guard on.

So first you need to find out if indeed it was a wren or something else if the box isn't baffled, however most predators would eat the nestlings not throw them out like a wren does.

Good luck!
Donna

Thanks for the info Donna. I have my house mounted on a pole with a predator baffle installed...I am definately thinking it was another bird as they where just laying on the ground, not partially eaten or anything. I will reposition the box. I haven't had any issues with HWR before...but thats not to say they didn't move in...I am not convincedit wasn't a sparrow...

Did you put up a sparrow spooker after the first egg was laid? If you had one of those up, my guess would also be House Wrens. They are very sneaky. And if those babies were under 6 or 7 days old, the HOWR can and will toss them out.

Yeah the spooker went up soon after the first egg was laid. I am more and more suspecting a wren. However there was the local HOSP sitting in the hole of the nest box today. Though I am not sure if the HOSP tosses the babies out like a HWRN. On a positive note I have Barn Swallows nesting in front. I am seriously considering taking the BB's house down. I am positive they would try again, but I really need to begin trapping and eliminating the HOSP again...

Dodger, did you say there was a HOSP sitting in the hole of the nestbox WITH the Spooker?

You need to be sure if something tries to take the box over. PLUS, many of us use spookers and find them useful, so it would be very helpful to know if a HOSP DID, in fact, enter this nestbox.

Wrens sounds like a huge possibility. Are your boxes near any brush or woods? I had to move my boxes out into the open because House Wrens were my main problem in my early years with the bluebirds. Unfortunately, this fortold me asking my neighbor for permission to erect the boxes on their property. They've had no problem and find the birds interesting.
~Tim~

Tim, no the HOSP was sitting in the hole the day after I tiook it down. The Spooker has worked wonders for the past 6 years, and I have not seen many HOWR's at all. But I do think that is what it was...The HOSP I think messes them up pretty good in the box. I am gonna get a Nest Cam, that is the only way to be sure in the future.

Oh, okay. Misunderstood.

Well that's good! I've continued to hope the sparrow spookers keep doing their intended job!

Seen the Blues yesterday morning hangin around the nest box, going in and out...Not sure whats goin on..Probably laying claim to it for another nesting...I'll keep you all posted and thanks again for the help...