House wrens are only a threat to Bluebird eggs and new hatchlings until they are about 6 days old, after that the wren can no longer pick them up and throw them from the nest which is what a wren will do to baby birds. If you had almost fully grown babies killed in the nest it was probably due to House Sparrows, the wren maybe came afterwards and filled the house with sticks. If you have wrens in the area once the Bluebird lays the first egg you can install a wren guard, but you would need to watch closely to make sure the Blues accept it, some don't. A wren guard is made of cardboard and comes down off the front of the nestbox and down to conceal the hole of the box from the frontal view, sides can be added to prevent a wren on the top of the nestbox looking down over and stills seeing the hole. Info on this is on the sialis.org site. Also to prevent House Sparrow attacks you can add a sparrow spooker to the nestbox once the first egg is laid, it is to be taken down right after fledging. This info is also on the sialis site. Good luck! Donna

Thank you both for your help - no need to apologize Kendra, I wasn't sure what help I was asking for! I am still so new at this I am afraid to take an action such as remove a nest. But I am going to do that today. The chickadees in our yard are such a joy, I feel very protective of them. And having seen the wren take over a second nestbox confirms what I was thinking. I will check the first nest for eggs/nest cup and if they are not there the nest will go. As for the second nestbox, it's in a tree so will take some time to check! connie-k - Keeping the wrens busy is a great idea. The only problem with that for me is that our three nestboxes are within eyesight of each other, so encouraging wrens to stay in our yard would not be good. Right now I am contemplating moving them farther apart, so I will keep the gourd tactic in mind. I will let everyone know what happens in the end, whether I outwit the wrens or they fool me...da da da daaaaaa.....

I sold a house about a week ago to a Mexican immigrant. This guy came here about 5yrs ago and works as a roofer. He has never owned a home in his life. When we showed him the house two times and he negotiated with us during the second showing. We came to an agreement which was $10k below our very competitive asking price of $369k with the caveat that he close in under 30days. We figured this would flush out his real intentions and would not hurt us much if he didn't close. We actually did not think he would close so it was a shock to us when our lawyer called and said the closing is tomorrow morning. In short, he bought the house for $359k with next to no money down and a first and second mortgage. Our buyer worked with a mortgage broker that specialized in dealing with immigrant first time buyers. The bottom line, don't count these immigrants out. How this guy is going to pay a $3700 a month, I have not got a clue. But it goes to show you how easy it is to get money.

Meant to tell you that I love Fairhope- such a charming little town. I would think that if the female isn't going in to lay anymore eggs or to incubate them, that they're not going to move forward at that location for right now. Are you sure she's not going in there? It could be that the Chickadees are hesitant to move forward wondering if the bluebirds are going to come back. If you know that the bluebirds aren't entering the box, my sense would be to remove the eggs & nest. If you don't have any continued activity or new activity, I would definitely get the box out of the tree & on that pole you purchased. I guess you could wait until your pole & baffle arrive- & if no changes, remove material & put the box on the pole with baffle at least 15 feet from tree, but close to it since it's a location they seem to like. I would put any houses that you have on a pole. You could actually move the baffle around according to where you have activity. The golf course side could be another desired location, since it sounds like it may be more open, which is what bluebirds seem to like. How awesome would that be if you had Chickadees in one location & bluebirds in another! As far as the snake repellant, maybe it is ok if it's herbal (& powder at that). I thought that what I sprayed last year should be harmless, but 2 of the fledgelings couldn't yet fly, so they were hopping around in my courtyard for 2-3 days until they died. They were so adorable! I actually took the last one to a rehabber when I realized that it seemed stressed & wasn't accepting food from the parents. As soon as we pulled up to the location, the baby died. It took me about a month to get over losing them. One died in the box, too. Again, wondered if was due to the spray that I used. My neighbor saw the one that flew out into my front yard a few days after it fledged & it seemed fine. Just not going to chance using that spray again during nesting season. You're right though- it's so hard to know exactly what to do because all we want to do is help them, not harm them. If you get a chance, would love to hear what happens. Again, great experts on bluebird nut.com. Nicole