Thank you everyone! I feel very welcome. Roses are the little bit of "me" time I squeeze in for myself. I try to leave the majority of the yard kid friendly, but when they are grown I'm sure I'll delve into it much more! Here are a few photos of my roses for belle_va charlotte louise clements and darlow's enigma Madame Hardy Claire rose Darlow's enigma growing on my shed with the fairy and the fawn down below. Cl Cecile Bruner is just a baby there and I hope it will engulf the other half of the shed in a few years. crocus rose abraham darby I saw the most blooms from my austins this year, but I do have some true antiques that haven't bloomed yet... baronne prevost, louise odier, snow pavement... I can't wait!

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.

See that's the thing...I like them myself...but how in the heck are there so many more of them than bluebirds? I had to euthanize HOSP at this box today too. Horrible neighborhood. Saw the bluebirds earlier but it looks like they may not use the box again. Would someone who's had a similar situation please fill me in? How can I really tell what they're doing? I haven't lost nestlings since my 1st season. This is my 4th. I wish I knew for sure. Another problem...I'd have to get another predator guard for a 2nd box...UGH! Surely someone knows what sadness and frustration im going through?

Ok, these are wild birds, not pets. They are cute and we become very attached to those we monitor closely but you have to remember they are wild, they are not tame and shouldn't be tame. You can do blowfly inspections of the nests very easily without holding one of the baby birds. Besides the fact that blowflies normally feed at night and drop off the babies and go into the nest during the day. Just because you haven't caused any major problems yet doing this doesn't mean it won't happen. Monitoring nests is done to prevent problems but there are guidelines that should be followed and checking them when they are close to fledging without suspecting a problem is really a very self centered thing to do. Photo ops are not a reason to open a nestbox when you could cause them to fledge prematurely. Yes books can be rewritten but you seem to have forgotten they were written from experience. I have often checked nests every day up until day 13 then I have stopped and I don't touch the babies to do checks. Once, just once I did a blowfly inspection of a nest on day 14 and you know what happened? Later that day one of the 14 day old nestlings fledged and he couldn't fly a lick and ended up spending the night in our garage as we didn't know he was there until the next morning. I put him back in the box which then cause another to try to fledge and that one couldn't fly either, also the first baby fledged again. I had to put a hole reducer on the box to keep them in there and I hated to do that. Had I not opened that box on day 14 (and I did not touch the babies, just inspected the nest and lifted it slightly) I would not have had to put the reducer on. I took the reducer off on day 16 and they all fledged, one still couldn't fly very well though but the other three could. They did all make it though but it was lucky cause I know that one spent at least that first night on the ground. Fledgling day could have been way later had I not opened that box and the babies would not have been put in harms way because of something I did. I now do all my blowfly inspections (of the nest not the hatchlings) during the first 12 days from hatching and around day 7 I take a turner and lift the nest up and brush out the bottom dust on the nestbox floor, this is where the larva would be when they are tiny. I really think you are setting yourself up for heartbreak if you cause something bad to happen to one of your nestings because of unneeded monitoring and touching the babies. I hope you don't but you really might one of these days. Good luck to you and your Blues! Donna