House wren in the neighborhood?

15 years ago

I have a successful blue bird box about 20 yards from my patio. Blue birds are on their third nesting and new babies hatched Saturday (1st nest unsuccessful, 2nd nest 3 fledglings, 3rd nest had four eggs but can only see two babies from the entrance). I had an unsuccessful Carolina wren nest on my patio and that couple have been trying to renest in my garage (they roost each night at my patio until last night). In order to dissuade them from using the garage on Sunday I placed a wren box at patio edge to try to give my Carolina's a better spot. Unfortunately, a house wren moved in yesterday and is starting to nest build in the new house. I am new to birding, but from what I have read, House Wrens are not good neighbors to Blue Birds or to Carolina Wrens.

My question should I remove the box before the house wren gets too comfortable? I fear if I remove the box, this house wren will decide the blue bird box looks good and decide to attack the babies. If I remove the box, will the house wren leave? Or would it be better to give him a home too so he won't have to fight for another nest?

Being new to bird watching not sure what to do, but now I'm wishing I had not put up this box. Thanks for any advice on this.

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cindy_s_cent_pa

15 years ago

I had a house wren problem for my first nesting of bluebirds. My bluebirds layed two eggs and the house wren destroyed both of the eggs that were layed. I took a piece of blue masking tape that I was using to paint, folded it over so it wasn't sticky and placed it so that it dangled over the hole. The wren did not return, the bluebirds figured out how to get in, layed two more eggs that successfully hatched and fledged. I now have a new nest with two eggs so far. Who would have thought a piece of masking tape would do the trick.

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Comments (13)

renee_2006
15 years ago
I haven't had to make that decision yet myself so I'm not sure what I would do. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in soon. In the meantime, please go to the below linked website. There you will find all kinds of information concerning dealing with howrs and just about anything else when it comes to hosting bluebirds and other cavity nesting birds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Discouraging House Wrens
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anita55
15 years ago
I would immediately put a wren guard on the bluebird nestbox while the wrens are busy with the other box. What I did with the wrens was AFTER I put up the wren guard on the bluebird box, I removed some of the sticks that the wrens put in the other box, just enough to keep them busy building it up again. If you don't put a wren guard on the other box you do risk having the wrens go into the bluebird box. You are allowed to remove the sticks but once they start building an actual nest or laying eggs you are not supposed to disturb them. I was able to keep them busy for the whole of the bluebirds first nesting. Good luck
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Thanks for the replies - so far the House Wren has not touched the surviving two Baby Blues - and momma and Papa are taking care of them. However - I can hear the Wrens all around, and I also am removing sticks from the other boxes around the property. I should have tried a Wren guard - however I have never put one on - so was worried about the Blues not taking too it. But if they nest again, I will for sure try it - after the first egg is laid. One a side note - we have a dead tree in our back yard - that a wood pecker bored a hole in, and must now have a nest in it. I saw her chasing the wren a way - but her nest is pretty high up. Also - we have a Phoebe nesting under our overhang - this is her second year. I went and checked her eggs out - and there was a Cowbird egg in it! We also had two robins nest near our house - both nests were robbed of their eggs - I'm thinking the crows got at them. Unfortunately no Chickadee nests in our boxes this year.. but probably best because of the Wrens..... seems like they arrived early this year. So did the humming birds.
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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
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Put up a wren guard after the first egg is laid in your chickadee/bluebird/whatever nest. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just enough to obscure the view of the nest box entrance from the wrens. I make mine out of cardboard and duct tape. Take it down when the chicks are 7-10 days old. In 5 years of having chicakdees and/or bluebirds nest in my yard, with plenty of wrens around, never a problem.
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I am just guessing here but they may have fledged- a few questions here- how did they look in appearance? Were they all covered in feathers that look like they may be able to climb/hop onto shrubs for cover? Or were they very small and helpless looking? The noise you heard was probably them responding to the parents' calls to leave the nest. (Parents usually do that from a distance to get them to leave the nest.)I'm thinking that they're long gone with the parents. Fledglings usually leave the nest/area as quickly as possible and find cover elsewhere where the parents feed them until they're able to fend for themselves. Hope this helps. Nerry
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chris8796
15 years ago
You should watch the nest closely and monitor their progress. HOWR and other cavity nesters often make dummy nests to discourage other nesters. I have a box that a HOWR and HOSP like to fight over, but neither actually nest in it. They both put in enough material for about a third of a nest and go no further. I will throw the material out after a while and they repeat the process. If they see eachother they will fight for ten minutes and the HOWR comes back the winner most times. I think the box is on the edge of both birds territory and they want to keep out other nesters.
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michelle_4466
15 years ago
I did the same thing that Anita did.It worked for me.I kept removing small portions from the top of the HOWR's dummy nest and kept them busy till the BB babies fledged.I also put up a Wren Guard on their nest box.It was hard work to keep the Wrens busy.They are very industrious.
michelle
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dkst
Original Author
15 years ago
So far, so good - HOWR doesn't seem to care about the bluebirds. However he is running the Carolina Wrens off whenever they come round. This was their area before he showed up and house was supposed to be for them. The Carolina Wrens are a sweet couple and I don't want to lose them to this HOWR. Any ideas on this front?

On the wren guard, do I understand correctly the guard needs to come off on day seven for the babies? I'm already on day 4 now.

Thanks again for the great advice!
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anita55
15 years ago
I left my wren guard on much longer than that, maybe 10 day or even 12. The parents have no trouble feeding and the babies are not going anywhere so I just leave it on.
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lisa11310
15 years ago
I leave the guard on as long as possible also protects from so many other things. If you can when you do take it off...do it in early morning before it gets to bright so they can slowly adjust to the light coming in.
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dkst
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, tragedy struck. Woke and went first thing this morning to check my babies and they are gone and nest destroyed. Wren guard was torn off (my wren guard was temporary until I could build a good one). Maybe a racoon as one of my bird feeders was emptied too?

I feel horrible. I hope the wren guard did not attract the culprit to the nest.
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anita55
15 years ago
How would a wren guard attract anything? I don't understand
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dkst
Original Author
15 years ago
Just feeling guilty, I guess because I couldn't protect them. The parents keep coming to the nest and looking in, and it just breaks my heart!
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anita55
15 years ago
I'm really sorry your babies were taken and the nest destroyed. Is the nestbox on a metal pole with a baffle? If not, that could be the problem. Raccoons are everywhere, even if you haven't seen one. If the box is mounted on a wooden pole or a fence it is easy for a raccoon, a cat or any other climbing animal to get to it. If you haven't already looked at the sialis.org website you should spend some time reading and make sure you have a proper setup. You know, even when you are being really careful sometimes tragedy just happens. I don't put out any feeders at all because I'm afraid of bears coming around for food. I know the birds have plenty of natural food and if they can't make it out there then maybe they shouldn't.
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dkst
Original Author
15 years ago
No the house is on a fence post. There are two bluebird houses that were here when we bought the house last year and we have lots of bluebirds here. My husband and I discussed last night that we might need to modify them so I will check out the website you suggested for to find the best set up. Thanks.
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