That is awesome you put a baffle up! Wobbling stovepipe baffles are noisy in the wind..this will not deter the Blues if they want the box. All my baffles make noise when the wind blows and it has never stopped any bird from nesting in them.

How big around is your wooden post it is on and how big around is the baffle, wasn't sure if the 12" was wide or long??

Good luck!
Donna

I have never had a bird scared off by a noisy baffle. Mine wobble in the wind, and can make quite a racket, but it doesn't seem to bother the birds at all.

In my three years of blue birding I haven't put a baffle up yet. I believe I just had my first successful brood of two without one. I say believe because the babies were in the box on 6/61/12 when I got home, and just gone the next day at the same time. My point is, I stood there dismayed, could they have left so quickly? It was time, but then I started looking at the post, which is cast iron, and thought I saw muddy paw/hand prints. Pretty sure i was just being paranoid, but i started to lament not putting up a baffle. This was my first successful brood, previous two years failure due to HOSP(die), bad placement, crazy neighbor on zero-turn and the fact that my pair are young and inexperienced(I think). But the fledglings are gone and the pair came right back, ready for more! Not giving me time to put up a baffle. Sorry so long winded, but, baffle or no? Not sure.

I'll defer to those who are much more experienced than I; but suffice it to say that after taking to heart what others stressed to me, I couldn't in good conscience continue to leave the box "unbaffled." I ended up feeling that to do otherwise was basically setting the birds up to be helpless bait - and that is worse than not providing a box at all.

Again, others can advise much better; but I think you can put the baffle up even while the nest is active. The birds seem to be pretty tolerant of people.

cyn_s is quite right. Do put up the baffle now. Also don't forget that if they re-nest and lay again, make sure to put up a sparrow spooker after the first egg is laid.

misterowl...if you want to be sure you had a successful nesting....put up a baffle. I use the seamed stovepipe and it does deter raccoons so it is very easy to add to an already mounted nestbox. I have found coon prints on the bottom of my baffles but the nestlings inside safe! Just because coons or other climbing predators haven't gotten to your box yet doesn't mean they won't. An unbaffled box is a happy meal for a raccoon, they can easily climb even 1/2" unbaffled conduit and shepherd hooks so anything bigger is even easier. Unbaffled nestboxes are just a disaster waiting to happen!

The pair you are seeing, are they feeding any fledglings? Or just interested in the box. While Blues can renest immediately upon a successful fledging they will still be taking care of the fledglings for at the very least 2 weeks after they fledge and more like 3-4 weeks.

Good luck!
Donna

Donna, I meant to say 10" (not 12") - which is the diameter of the baffle; length is 2'. I haven't measured the post, but it's something like 3" x 2.5". Since it's a Peterson box w/ the long back, that adds to the diameter of the post where the hardware cloth is, but doesn't extend very far down inside.

Do you think the birds will come back for another brood, or did I lose them when I kept the box open while waiting to make the baffle?

Thanx for your encouragement!

Since you had the box open for a couple weeks the bluebird pair could have moved on. That doesn't meant you won't get another pair though.

Good luck!
Donna

Cyn thank you for protecting your bluebirds with the baffle, if they are gone to another location like Donna says they may come back to your set-up soon if they can't find safe nesting and you'll be ready. I have the big store-bought racoon baffles on my posts and sometimes they squeak and rattle so I spray the crap out of the undersides of the baffle with wd40. That was before babies were in the box. I think it cuts down on wasps inside the baffles. Good luck I hope they come back for ya. Mister owl don't get us started about not baffling. It just saves so much heartache to do it right. ESPECIALLY if they are wanting to renest get that baffle up.

Thanx for the encouragement and suggestion! :-)

I HAVE ANOTHER NEST!!!!!!!

I quit checking the box recently b/c I was so discouraged at NO sign of activity. Just now I was mowing and noticed a piece of grass sticking out of the hole. I grabbed my little dental mirror (nest itself is very deep cup), opened the box and looked in. No eggs yet but beautiful nest - and I haven't seen a single bird in weeks!

Yay!

cyn s...congrats on the new nesting! Hopefully you will get an egg soon and have a successful one!! Good luck!

Donna

Yep, just checked and found egg #1!

Thanx for your support.

Cyn

Congrats on the first egg....Ok, now is the time to add the sparrow spooker...

Donna

Seriously? Oh my, they are high-maintenance! How important is this?

If you have any HOSP in your area it is very important...even if you don't think you have any around, it is better to have a sparrow spooker up than to do a nestcheck and find the nestlings or adults pecked to death. I had to add one on a TRES box this year (normally only put them on BLues and Dee boxes) cause a HOSP got in and killed two of the six, two others were pecked on the head but made it, two others must have been hidden under the pile cause they were ok. HOSP don't always kill because they want the box, sometimes they just see activity and go in and kill what they find. Sialis.org has a page on sparrow spookers and how to make them. I always put mine up on my blues boxes as soon as that first egg is laid. Good luck!

Donna

OK, DH just made me a spooker. :-) I had a second egg today; but I'm not sure exactly when we should mount the spooker. Is it OK to do this eve.? Or am I supposed to wait until egg #3 arrives tomorrow?

Put spooker up last night, and egg #3 has arrived, so I guess we're set!

Sorry we were gone on Saturday. Anytime, afternoon to evening is fine to put up the spooker. Only reason to not put it up in the morning is because that is when the female will be laying an egg and you don't want to disturb her. Glad you put a spooker up!

Donna

Well, we had a thunderstorm so bad last Thursday that we made national news. (I live in the Smokies.) A neighbor said she's lived here 30 years and has never seen such high winds. And today I have hatchlings (day 13)!

So I guess mom was OK w/ the baffle - or at least she's so devoted that she stuck it out in spite of it. You go girl!

Cyn

Yaah. Congrats on your hatchlings. So glad everyone made it through the storm.