If I were you I would put up the other box out of site of the Chickadee box. Also if there are eggs in the dees nest add a 1 1/8" hole reducer so a Bluebird can't get in. Blues usually don't tolerate nesting next to Dees for some reason. I have many paired boxes, had them paired at 15 feet apart for two years and nothing would let another bird nest that close to it. Moved them to 25-30 feet apart and the TRES and BLues nest together happily at that distance. TRES and Dees can nest that close together too but not sure about BLues and Dees. Good luck!

In case the eggs are still OK - maybe you can try moving the nest? I'm not sure if it's possible to reach or if the parents will accept it. But most of the the time it works. I have personally made a little move/remaking a fallen open cap nests with chicks in it, and once I moved a starling nest with eggs from the hole under the roof. I moved it because the chicks were falling out of the hole and it was not the best nesting site. First I screwed the birdhouse to the wall in such a way that the hole in the birdhouse was as close as possible to the hole the birds were using. After that I moved the nest with the eggs into the birdhouse and sealed the hole under the roof. I watched the parents - they started going inside the birdhouse after a very short time. I gave them a few days to get use to the new nesting site and after that I moved it to a pole about 4' from the wall where the house was originally located. They accepted it again and raised chicks from the eggs I moved. You can probably do the same for your birds. If its fails - well, as you said, maybe it's for the best.

It's been a while, but here is an update! Wrens did appear the day our chickadee nest was emptied, so we are guessing they were responsible. The mother chickadee spent one more night on her empty nest before abandoning it. We ended up putting duct tape over the hole so the wrens couldn't use it and boy did that make them mad! I've learned that we may have played a role in the chickadees demise. Three years ago chickadees nested in our yard, but the next year wrens did. We kept removing the sticks, but they promptly replaced them. The wrens are hard workers, I'll give them that. Finally we left the wrens alone and they completed a nest, etc. From what I've read, once you let wrens nest in your yard, they become very territorial of it and it is almost impossible for chickadees to have a successful nest there. Last year we put up two very low bluebird boxes and the wrens built dummy nests in them. Also we had put a few wood chips in our nest box. I think the reason chickadees like a box with wood chips is that it mimics an old woodpecker's nest. If woodpeckers successfully nested in a spot, there is probably a higher chance it will be successful for chickadees. So maybe we gave them a false sense of security. Well, we live and learn. Every once in a while now I will be outside and I'll hear two chickadees calling and they will fly close to me and flit all around and it makes me really happy. We now have flickers nesting in an old woodpecker hole in our birch tree. Starlings recently fledged from that hole, and there have been a few brawls, but I've got my fingers crossed. A few times I have gone out and banged pans to frighten the starlings away and it seems to work! Good luck with your nest boxes Donna! Thanks for the pep talk, it was nice to talk with someone who could relate! Annie

They're beginning to look like birds now, not necessarily chickadees, but birds. The parents seem to be bringing two or three tidbits at a time - I wonder how they make sure that all eight are fed equally. Fascinating! Claire