It is the most amazing thing if you get box you can open and see the babies or handle them each day to see the startling amount of growth/changes every single day! Our boxes are right under the power line and the parents will sit on the line and watch us and sometimes chirp, but they are a- ok with their babies being handled as long as you don't let them get chilled and are gentle. I learned the hard way to stop trying to hold them after 12 days when i made one batch fledge early. Kept trying to put them back in, but it was too late and the parents really got mad about that. I don't think we've ever had a nest that went much beyond 16 days though, so it's interesting that they are supposed to stay in 21 days. I don't even open the box after day 12. Yes, predators love blues (any baby bird). When you figure out where you want to put a house, make sure cats, coons or snakes can't get to it. Grease the pole or use a baffle or mount the box in such a way that nothing can get in. BTW, the big boxes sell very reasonably priced cedar blue houses- like $12 last i looked. You may very well get some competition from titmice or chickadees- they all like the same size, so you could get multiples and hang them (titmice are the fiercest mamas- they won't budge and will hunker down and hiss at you!). Blues happily nest close to the others but won't nest close to their own kind. And they love to have a choice of boxes. Some years i've had 3 out of my 4 boxes full. The only ones you may want to evict if the get into the box would be the alien house finches. Knock on wood, i've never had it be a problem, but have head from others that it can be.

Are there any nests in the boxes? I also think they are Tree Swallows. If they are in there from last fall or summer they are probably babies that could not get out of the boxes. Tres need a ladder if you will to help them fledge from the nest. All that needs to be done is to make some deep scratches or kerfs on the inside of the box leading up to the hole to help them climb out. There is a website that will give you all the info you will ever need about Bluebirds Tree Swallows and any other cavity nesting birds. www.sialis.org We will also help any time you have questions Cathy Here is a link that might be useful: sialis.org

Dees are very tolerant of monitoring but they scold you like crazy. It is however very hard to see into the nest until the eggs are being incubated as before that starts they are always covered when the mom leaves the nest. I have Dees in a Gilwood box and the nestcup was in the far back so even after incubation started it was hard to see into the nest since the moss was so high up. We had six eggs, I know at least five hatched but mom would never get off the nest when they were little and I checked the other day (day 10) and they were so bunched up I still couldn't tell if there were five or six! Guess I won't know for sure until after fledging if there is an egg left in the nest or not. Last year our Dees had seven eggs and all fledged, the year before that only five eggs and only four hatched and fledged. Donna

Yes actually I do have an update. Although very much late! Mom helped Pop with taking care of his brood and they never made another attempt. (I would have enjoyed it, but I had my doubts) I was out today and I heard that typical single note bluebird call! They're out there some where! lol I heard a HOSP coming from the direction of a pair of nestboxes...thought I had to bring the Van Ert out...in September! It was actually farther off. In previous years I've had flocks of blues in the fall check out my boxes so now I'll have to be on the lookout!