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What is going on here?

15 years ago

Strange bluebird season at my house. First nesting, 4 eggs laid and 2 hatched and fledged. Second nesting, 4 eggs laid. Mama didn't seem to be incubating them. That would probably be ok during the day since it is pretty warm, but I would have thought that she would incubate at night. But I hadn't seen the female for several days and thought that maybe something had happened to her. I did touch the eggs one morning late last week and they were cold. So I pretty much surmized that they would not hatch. But I left them alone in case I was wrong. Then yesterday a new nest was started in the other box in my yard (same female or another possibly). This morning I looked in the box with the eggs and they were GONE! The box is on a slick pole with a baffle. The nest was not disturbed. Could they have discarded the eggs themselves because they were not viable? I'm hoping for more eggs in the second box!

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Comments (3)

dzyg
15 years ago
Sounds like maybe something happened to your female and you are probably seeing a different female starting the other nest. As for the eggs, do you have house wrens around? They will toss eggs out of a nestbox. I doubt the female bluebird would have done it. Good luck with the new nesting!

Donna
tuduloo
Original Author
15 years ago
I have not seen nor heard any house wrens. I searched around the yard, but did not find any eggs. It's almost like they just vanished! Another development today - like I said, she started a new nest yesterday in the second box. So I removed the nest from the first box. This morning she started building a nest in that box! I guess it remains to be seen which box she will eventually choose! These birds are really confusing me this year!
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Your plant is already in shock. Tear it apart and it is finished. Looks to me that the damage was done in the store and now it needs rest and good care. Those leaves will finish dying and new ones should sprout up. Once it recovers some, then re-pot in your new mix. Water and temperature is most critical. Lightly water it and only when completely dry. When summer comes and if you put outside, water much more often. Gritty soil is most forgiving if and when you over water. Now if the plant was sitting in wet boggy soil, that is different, then by all means tear apart remove all rot and let dry a few days then re-pot in the new mix and water a few days to a week later. Only myself, I have used the gritty mix and did not do so well. I use my own compost mix with great success. Now what to do a few years down the road is something else. That mix will compact and do more harm down the road. So I can't say that is the way to go.
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ohsoblue77
15 years ago
Tuduloo I know EXACTLY how you feel. Here at my backyard boxes I have had the strangest and craziest season yet!

Earlier in the spring my female layed 2 eggs, I left for a couple days, came back, and there was no more laying. a week later or so they got covered and layed 3 eggs then AGAIN stopped laying! They then moved to another box, layed 3 eggs, but this time Mrs. Blue did incubate (albeit poorly just like yours) and on day 14 (hatch time usually) they were abandoned later in the day and the pair showed interest in the same box they left previously. The next day they began building a nest and the other eggs I candled and confirmed fertile though possibly addled as I found embryos in all 3 eggs.

She is now incubating the 3 and are due to hatch on the 11th. After having no eggs hatch yet this year and 3 strange and miserably failed attempts, I won't keep my hopes up. This may be their final attempt for the season. Luckily I got to see 4 successfully fledge at another site about a mile away. I don't know what the heck is wrong with the siala breed but they sure know how to struggle to have 1 thing go right! Good luck and hope you get to see babies! I had 4 last year at home raised by just a male after the female vanished when the young were 7 days old. For that many mouths and such care Mr. Blue really made me proud! His mates might not know how to survive but he keeps on pushing!

- Tim -

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