Bshef, Ive been wondering the same thing about self watering containers for blues. I saw a good video on You Tube about growing figs in self watering containers and I know they can be sensitive to wet feet like blues. His plants were huge and healty too. I have a 3 more plants that I need to pot up and will put one of them in a home made earth box pot and report my results. I assume with a earth box type pot system the potting media will need to be pretty fine to wick up the water so I will have to change my usual mix. Only time will tell.

I guess the story is not over...as I said, little TUTI left at 1:55pm. At about 4:10pm, I heard a rustle in the birdless box (I left the nest there for now). The HOWR FRANTICALLY started to de-construct the nest. Grabbing nest material--fur, straw, grass, leaves--out of the hole! It was in a frenzy!!! It would grab something and almost throw itself at the hole to get the material out! If it went to grab a chunk of fur too big to take out, it pulled and pulled at it till it broke it down to a size that would go out the hole. Fast and furious. I did catch this frenzy on tape so I'll be putting that online in the next few days. I closed off the box for today. I need some rest. I can't imagine how such a little bird can do what I saw it do: peck eggs and throw them out, peck chicks and throw them out, attack almost-fledged chicks, and de-construct a HUGE TUTI nest! Blessings, Linda...

Well the good news is that the nest is only slightly damp around the edges. The wood inside the box is damp too. I think the Duck feathers shed the rain right to the sides of the nest. Smart Mom. The even better news is that it has only made it up to 68. Tomorrows forcast has been revised to inclued strong thundershowers but now only 84 as a high. Rain will end Sat with a high of 83. I am leaving the vents taped, 68 is a little cool but Mom is on the babies now and I am sure all will be fine. Karen, it should have stopped raining there by now...so I don't think we are going to have to try flinging crickets! LOL Donna, I think your babies will be fine ( I forgot are these TRES or Blues)? I thought I warned you earlier that just when you thought you made it through all your worries a whole new set would pop up! Lots of posts in April on "how do I keep my babies warm" now we are moving on to "how do I keep my babies cool" LOL There have been some very inovative things done from putting a big smiley umbrella over the box to covering the box in styrafoam. I take an ice pack and put ON TOP of the box (not in) and cover it with a towel during the hotest part of the day. Don't really know if it helps the birds but it helps *ME* Right now your Mom is taking care of temp controll. Go back and look at pages from last summer, I am sure you will get a kick out of some of the things we have done to our boxes!

kendra2, Anything white will help to deflect the sun/heat, I am sure white paint will help. katiedidcottage made a good point about paint fume. Paint is more permanent, I would also worry about the white paint deflect the sum/heat in the early spring when the BB need warmth. The umbrella and white paper shield came down last night, we had a nice thunderstorm, the weather cooled down. katiedidcottage, white styrofoam ice chest lid sounds like a good idea. Speaking of "not pretty", you can't beat my hot pink beach umbrella on top of the bird house! Good thing the umbrella was only up for one day:-)