Congrats Tim!! I never have removed unhatched eggs and they have never broken. In my last brood of seven, one of the eggs hatched a day and a half later than the others. It was still a runt on fledging day too.....

Donna

Congrats on the hatchlings. Did the final egg hatch today? Hopefully all will go well for you.

Yes, the good news is the 5th egg has hatched after checking this morning!

On other topics, I have learned my lesson about Raccoons! I had 6 HOSP in my DRST in my storage barn. They managed to drag my trap off our parked 4 wheeler, and move it like 50 feet into our field! 4 were gone, 1 was dead and reduced to rubble, and one was half alive and clearly injured. I had to put it down.

So I'm back to square one, while juvenile HOSP are still seemingly all over the place! I've decided to pack the trap up for a while. I wish I had a good BB gun! I HATE seeing them, even if they are of no harm to my bluebirds at the moment. They must be being reproduced in the neighbors' evergreens (Blue spruce, primarily) I was lucky to get one HOSP with a Daisy BB gun when a flock showed up in my yard.

~Tim~

Great news about your 5th egg Tim! Question: do hosp actually nest in spruces? I thought they just want cavities. Last night I learned they ( father and his spawn ) were roosting in my little blue spruce. It was pretty dark and I saw they had flown into it and never came out, so I took my pellet gun and shot several times into it and not a peep so I went and shook the branches and they all flew out! Now I know why the finches and other birds haven't been in there this season, they've been kicked out by hosp! I will make sure they aren't able to roost in there at night. I'm really overwhelmed by the amount of juveniles around, am thinking about purchasing a shot gun.

Good news about the 5th egg. Jeepers, when your neighbors aren't stealing your trap, a raccoon takes over stealing it.

Yes Lexa, HOSP will even nest in spruces! Tight evergreens are places HOSP LOVE to build their domed nests. It's angering. But take note that House finches STRONGLY resemble HOSP from afar. Make sure you here the distinctive chirp before using any guns! We had some HOFI nest around here. The HOSP don't nest in the pines near this property anymore.

And I'm also overwhelmed seeing all the juveniles. They truly breed like RATS! ARG! 2 neighbor's they nest at...and are of course fed all summer... :/

What's worse is now I have NO decoys. I have 2 bb guns. Both miss about 90% of the time. I have shaky hands too. I was lucky enough to nail one juvie when the flock showed up in my yard, and one year nailed a male HOSP.

I'm gonna resurrect my DRST again in a week or two. My neighbors have parties around the 4th so it would be a bad idea any time soon. I wish I had a better gun! D$5n HOSP! HATE EM!

The 5 nestlings appear to be doing good. Mom and Dad are feeding well or so it would seem. Can't wait to finally have some juvie Bluebirds to counteract all these HOSP!

~Tim~

I may break down and order the DRST. There's just so many hosp now and they must be done nesting 'cause none are trying to use any of the vacant nestboxes. I haven't had great luck with my pellet gun this year either. We have many hofis here and I usually don't shoot female hosp because they do look so similar to female house finches and by the time I've grabbed my binocs to make sure it's the right bird I've lost my chance to shoot it. Vermin.

Congratulations on the newest hatchling. I have my first brood (successful), all 4 are getting ready to fledge, probably another couple days. The HOSPs have taken a beating this year. Pellet guns and repeating traps. 15 juveniles caught couple weeks ago, while many go down to the pellet gun. This pellet gun has been the only reason my brood survived. I've been targeting male hosp and when they aren't around, I take any hosp I can. Long as they are managed my tree swallows and bb's will do ok.

I didn't have problems this yr. HOSP thankfully but I learned that feeding during the winter to buy the better bird seed that doesn't have the seed that attracts HOSP it was more expensive but I never seen a one during winter feeding so I think that helped me this spring & summer.

We took our feeders down except for our thistle and Oreole/Humingbird feeders when we lost our first baby bluebirds and mommy. We built a mealworm feeder for the Bluebirds.
We purchased the HOSP trap , the thing works like a charm baited with cheap birdseed and bread!
Our second nesting was a complete success equiped with a spooker.

tmjoseph, did you get the drst hosp trap? Are you making a noticable dent in the hosp poulation? Mr.wiggles sounds like you are doing great with your pellet gun..

Neighbors have been gone. Traveled to SC for the 3rd-4th, so no fireworks for the first year I've lived here!

In fact, it was much more quiet around here on the 3rd and 4th than in past years.

The nestlings are about 12-13 days old, and this is my last day I'm checking on them. Will get one last photo. Mom and Pop are doing a GREAT job of caring for them!

Once the the terrible, almost-100 degree heat wave leaves, the DRST is going back out! Sadly I'll have to be patient, as I will have NO live decoys :/

~Tim~