bedelia, you need to get rid of the hosp. If it goes in the box when the female BB is trying to build her nest....he(hosp) will kill her. Check out www.sialis.org for more information.

Good luck!
Karen

If you set up another box with a Van Ert, it probably wouldn't do any good. That HOSP wants the box the BBs are in. You need a spooker, you can either make one or order online with express shipping. Mama blue is ready to start laying and you need a spooker, pronto.

The HOSP will not stop until they get that box regardless of whether it has eggs or nestlings or adults in it. They will destroy whatever is in there to get what they want.

Chances are after the damage is done, they will repeat their thuggery somewhere else. Hopefully the spooker will work then you can try to set up a trap box with a Van Ert. Catch and dispose. Get all the info you can from the sialis site. It's a trememdous source of information you can greatly benefit from before the damage is done.

I would install Monofilament (red lines just for placement,use clear fishing line) as seen in the photo below until the first egg is layed,Then I would install the Sparrow spooker as described in the link below the photo.please read the link,so you have a full understanding.Remove the Monofilament once you have the Sparrow spooker installed.Or If your like me ,I would pluck off the sparrow with a pellet gun :)

Matt

Here is a link that might be useful: sparrow spooker

I forgot,It would not hurt to do as mulchmamma says with the trap box also,but I would get the box protected first.If you do set up another box with a trap, hang some dried grass out of the hole to get their attention(the HOSP)Keep us posted

Matt

This happens to me every time. My blues start building and the HOSP become interested. If I had an extra box I would try putting one with a Van Ert trap next to the blues nestbox as suggested. But since I don't have an extra box I put the Van Ert trap in the box when the Blues are gone and the HOSP are there. And then I sit and watch diligently and wait. If I see the Blues come back I quickly go out and take the Van Ert trap out..and try again later. Eventually I get them. I've done that this year so far with one bluebird box and 4 TRES boxes. It involves a lot of time because you have to watch while it's set to make sure the blues don't get caught. But it works!
Tammy

Unfortunately, the box is mounted on a tree. (Didn't know any better). Is it possible to somehow use a spooker and the filament without a pole?

I'm learning as I go along. We're new to this area (upstate NY) and never had BBs before.

A nestbox mounted on a tree is not a very safe haven for birds to nest in. It would be so much safer to remove that box and mount it on a slick metal pole w/preditor baffleat least 8' from a tree or any other structure a preditor could leap from. Or if the box can't be removed plug the hole and properly mount a new box on a slick metal pole w/baffle. Go to the below website there is a ton of info on bluebirds and other cavity nesters.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nestbox on trees

I made my own using a metallic pin wheel from dollar general.If you disassemble the spinner the metallic pieces already have holes. Slide them on to some thing That you can shape into a v. In your case you could duck tape it to the tree above the top of the house. Also nail some sheet metal around the bottom of the tree as a quick fix until you can mount your box properly. This worked for me.

bedelia: You might experience heartache with that box on a tree. Cats and racoons and other critters could get eggs easily. It would be better if you put up a pole, 8 feet from the tree (like Renee suggested) and then attach that nestbox to the pole. The definitely would still be interested in the box, in my opinion. That wouldn't take too much work or time.
Regarding the spooker, I have mounted one to the side of the nestbox in two occasions because there was no way to mount it to the back. I bet you could do that.
Tammy

Bedelia if you live out in the country and don't have neighbors or neighbors that don't really care then skip the pellet gun and get a 410 gauge shotgun. Then you wouldn't even have to worry about getting a good aim, heck you might even be able to get two sparrows with one shoot. But then a spooker and a Van Ert would probably do you better.
Keith
p.s.--I've shoot a few of them in the trailer park with a pellet gun.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I'll check today to see if there is an egg yet. I'll try the filament if not. I'll get the spooker ready.

We live in a residential area in the burbs. Haven't heard of any coons around and everyone has dogs. But I'll change the box to a pole eventually. My husband thinks I'm nuts as it is, and I'd have to figure a way to do it myself since he thinks nature should take its course!

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Raccoons are nocturnal. But just yesterday afternoon, there was a raccoon in my neighbor's backyard, eating stale bread they had thrown out. I'm sure Rocky Raccoon would have also enjoyed a few fresh eggs, if he had the option, but we have a raccoon baffle. Otherwise, he could easily shimmy up that metal pole and reach right on in. They are amazingly strong and very agile, can climb and leap. And once they are successful, they will return again and again. Your nestbox is then called a raccoon feeder.
My DH thought I was nuts too, wanting him to dig a hole for a metal pole in February. Being Valentine's Day, he caved, and 15 minutes later, bluebirds were on the nestbox checking it out. We often laugh together about that Valentine's Day muddy mess, and remember all the hundreds of bluebirds that have fledged from that very nestbox with the raccoon baffle.
BlueBars

I'd move the box now, with or w/o an egg in it. Your bluebirds will have far more problems then HOSP if the box is left on the tree. I live in a huge, 700 plus homes, subdivision and definitely have raccoons. Saw one, still day light, swinging from one of my squirrel baffled feeders one day. I've since added raccoon baffles to all my feeder AND nest box set-ups and although I haven't seen a raccoon since, I'm sure they are there at night. I had one come inside through two dog doors to eat my dogs food. It left a dirty mess in her water dish and paw tracks on her dog mat.

I had the same problem HOSP 2 weeks ago. I got a Vanert trap and put it in the box and the dang sparrow would not go back in, just block the hole from the outside. The BB nest that was built ended up getting trashed. I brought the nest box I had in my front yard around to the back and the BB's took quick interest in it. So now they have 4 eggs that she is sitting on and I took the other nest box down that the HOSP drove them out of. Wierd because since the BB's took interest in the other box, the HOSP never went back to the first box...Go figure.

There weren't any eggs in the BB nest, so I put up the filament around noon. I saw the BB around 5 p.m., and the mother peeked inside and then stared at the filament, and flew off. That's the last I've seen of them.

Did I scare them away?

Bedelia, I doubt that the monofilament would scare the bluebirds away.
But Janie_May - OMG, raccoons IN YOUR HOUSE?!? even though there are dogs!?! Now THAT's BOLD! and SCARY!
Bluebars

BlueBars, I nearly had a heart attack! First I found the dirty water in my dogs water bowl and then I found the paw prints! I took photos and my exterminator assured me they were raccoon paw prints! He lives in the country and shoots and traps coons all the time so I knew he'd know. My dog sleeps upstairs in bed with me so she never heard a thing and my hubby travels often and was out of town. The only thing that I hated was that he (HUBBY) didn't walk into the kitchen in the middle of the night to find that raccoon! LOL! That would have been the last straw with my obsessive bird feeding! First we had roof rats (yep, I was told to get rid of my back yard feeders) and then the raccoon!

I find it amazing that the raccoon went through not only one dog door but two. He had to enter the screened in porch through one, then go through the next one into the kitchen! Ate the dog food, washed up in the water bowl and went right back out the way he came in! LOL! The dog doors are always closed off at night.... now!