I bought one of those incubator's too and had a tough time getting the temp right. Here's what finally worked for me. I had it sitting on my breakfast table in the kitchen so it was a constant reminder to keep the eggs turned. But with all the house traffic, the door opening and closing, the ceiling fan, kids in an out of the refrigerator, ect. ect the incubator simply WOULD NOT maintain a constant temp. So I moved it to my closet. No drafts. Dark. Quiet. Small but large enough for air circulation. Perfect. Plus it was in my way in the morning before work and in the afternoon afterwork to remind me to turn the eggs. Bingo. I hatched out a bunch of button quail. Also, I went to Lowes and bought one of those digital thermometers that has a sensor on the end of a long wire. You're supposed to put the sensor outside to keep track of outdoor temp and humidity, while the unit is mounted on the wall inside. It's about he side of a hershey bar. I put the whole thing in the incubator, and it worked like a charm to keep track of temp and humidity.

I looked it up on Sialis Lisa. It is 14-15 days. The blues starved because the evening before, even though it was 70 degrees, the parents weren't feeding very much at all. I knew this because opon opening the box all the nestlings heads raised up and were chirping loudly. The next day the weather turned for the worst, as described above, and actually I fed bluebird nuggets and waxworms in a tray on the ground. The worms diappeared so I assume the parents were just feeding themselves. The nestlings were about 3 - 6 days old. And actually If you follow me on the forums a lot you would know that I had 3 different pairs successfully raise nestlings last year. My boxes here are in my next door neighbor's field which is very open. Yes, I have lost plenty of birds. I'd like to say it's bad luck but IDK. Also the next property over lives a man who came from the city and landscapes his yard and sprays for dandelions. I got lucky last year when he sprayed during an active nest. Thought my blues were goners. Not much I can do about it. It's the best area in the neighborhood...you go else where and get problems with HOWR, HOSP, etc. 1 neighbor has a huge field but it's too far for me to monitor. It is straight back from my property. I want my blues nesting close to the house...not having to travel large distances. Somehow I lost 3 female bluebirds last season. I've never lost a male (knock on wood) so either female bluebirds don't know how to defend themselves or the male isn't watching his mate. Bluebirds in general don't seem to have what it takes to survive...they take forever to build in the spring and sometimes are away for days. They waste a lot of time. I've never had the luxury of time for a third brood. Something always messes it up. And this year, I think it will be because of how long the blues waited...they got back 1st but were beaten to box choices by the TRES.

Lisa, I thought that I read on this forum that some birds are more sensitive to disturbances than others. All I know about nest-box monitoring I learn from this forum. I respect and appreciate the efforts (and results!) of bluebird landlords, who reestablished EABBs in the eastern US. I do question, personally, the monitoring of other songbirds whose populations are not in trouble; my concern, also, is that some people, way less knowledgeable than the pros here, will think that they can and should monitor all nests, including cup nests. On the BWF, someone took a picture of almost fledged 'dees. I worry about flushing out chicks that age. Not that anyone knowledgeable on this forum would do it, but you all know your stuff. Many people glean information from forums instead of researching, and cannot keep their hands out of nests. Not that I am "scolding" anyone; it's just what I think of, as a visitor, when I come here. Not everyone knows there stuff. But I guess we can't help that. My instincts and background urge me to leave nests alone (except EABBs), because unknowingly, we create more trouble than help with birds that are doing well already, and need the experience of nesting failures to get them right in other tries. Although Janie's save is impossible to argue with!! But Janie, your gut (sorry for the metaphor) is greater than most other's : ) Which nest boxes then are you supposed to not check? Which species was I thinking of? Thanks!

Lydia 1959...As far as it's known, from decades of research by the PMCA and other organizations, the Purple Martins in the eastern half of the U.S. nest only in man-made cavities, and near human activity. Since the times before Columbus they have "imprinted" on humans. The eastern Native Americans lured them to their villages and gardens by setting natural gourds on sticks and dead trees. They knew when the Purple Martins were near, the flying insects were kept at bay. There is a small scattering of PMs on the west coast, and they seem to be nesting in single family groups around piers. There was a lot of excitement when a colony was discovered nesting in drainage pipes under highway overpasses around the Sacramento area. Still, for the vase majority of the Purple Martins, and the entire eastern population, it's man made housing. You can see the problem since fewer and fewer people are offering, and safely managing, housing for them. The PMs, along with our native blue birds, started declining in the 1950s and were fast approaching endangered status. The main causes were lack of housing being offered to them, loss of wooden fence posts in the case of the blue birds, and the explosion of the imported, non-native English House Sparrow that will kill/destroy any cavity nester, its eggs and its chicks, that it can find...PMs, bluebirds, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, etc. all fall prey to these non-natives. So, loss of habitat, explosive numbers of non-native competitors, and a lack of well-managed housing not being offered is the main culprits of the decline of our native cavity nesters. I wish you could come visit. I sit under the feeder tree each morning with my tea and listen to the beautiful chatter, chortles, and songs of the PMs. They're here for such a short time, but I try to enjoy them enough to last the rest of the year. They travel to and from southern Brazil each year to raise their families. They come back to the same colony each year. They are magical!