Clara - Looks like you are certainly pumping out the lumens, and plants look happy. Two questions to ponder though: at $45 a pop, these 85W CFLs + fixture are well-beyond chump change, at least for me. At some point, it must make sense to switch over to a HID lighting system. A ceiling mounted 1000W HPS, for example, would probably irradiate a good portion of your grow space, and they can't be more than a couple of hundred bucks. Second, the size of those 85W CFLs in the HD brooder lamp seems to ensure a lot of wasted lumens, and they stick out so far, a strip of Al-foil won't do much. As someone previously said, those gigantic CFLs seem much better suited to horizontal mounting in a "wing" or "half-tube" style fixture. I think the same poster described making a simple one with a double-ended screw-in socket, 8' heating duct cut in two lengthwise, and a couple of sheet metal screws. That said, the brooder lamps _are_ very flexible in their placement. Personally, I don't exceed a 55W bulb (linked below) in this fixture because, as you pointed out, I don't like my retinas fried just walking around the room. Nice thing about this particular 55W is the squat design that just about fits inside the 10.5" hemisphere. And not too shabby at 3600 lumens and $16. Here is a link that might be useful: fat 55W CFL

There is no way a baffle would scare away the Bluebirds. There are plenty times that the Blues choose a different nestbox for their second brood, I have more than one nestbox in the yard so they usually stay in my yard though but they don't always renest in the same box. Their bluebirds might have found another box they liked when they were out and about with their fledglings. Or something could have happened to one of the adults too, you just never know. I cannot give any advice on snakes since we don't have them here but a birdhouse without a baffle is like a happy meal to a raccoon. I have btdt and won't ever have an unbaffled house that a bluebird is nesting in, it is just not safe. Just out of curiosity what kind of baffle was it, stovepipe or pvc? Donna

No, it was a bluebird birdhouse with a 24" baffle! I have 14 birdhouses, only 4 have wiring and rest have baffles. Now I have improved it for better protection - 4' baffle instead of 2'. About the electric fence wire - I just wrote on the birdwatching forum about the Brown thrasher nest with same electric fence wire setup to help protect the bush from snakes (I posted pictures) http://nature.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bird/msg0622391128646.html Yesterday I saw a snake touch it, and it got zapped and backed up very quickly! I'm still not 100% sure this border will work if there is a more stubborn snake, or with a small snake that could squeeze under it, but now I know it IS working and a snake DOES get shocked from an electric fence wire when it's body is on the grass (the grass was dry). The pole has more wiring than the border, so now I think the electric fence wire may even be better than a baffle, at least better than the recommended small 24" baffle. Also, the birdhouse in the first picture (at the top of this page) has both - the baffle and wire, as I wrote last Sunday It's strange, but in all the years I have lived here I have never had so many LARGE snakes in the yard at one time. I left a chicken egg in the barn last night for "snake detection" and also to help keep their belly full, so they might be less creative about how to get birds. The egg was gone this morning. Tonight I'll leave more. I feel like I'm in the "Snakes on a Plane" movie :)

Linda, If you look at these picture you can see how I put eye screws in the top of the box. Then I tied a couple 3/4 inch washers on the end of the fish line for weight, that's so the line doesn't blow around and get tangled up. You don't want it hanging too close to the opening or there is a risk of the blues getting tangled in it. Then put it through the other eye screws and tie washers on the other end. If you look closely at the second photo you can see where I filed a very narrow notch in the roof so the string hangs in the same place all the time. Just pull it down tight in the notch being carefull not to break it. Also in the first picture you see the silver mylar ribbons hanging on the box. That is the curly gift wrapping ribbon type stuff that you put on Christmas or birthday gifts. It's waterproof and it blows around in the wind. For some reason I can't explain, the sparrows won't go near it. I learned that trick from another Bluebird web site. A woman researcher in CA. discovered that the sparrows don't like it. As far as the screen inside, I left mine in so the nest is off the bottom of the box so it stays dry. There are vents that let the air circulate and that also helps it stay cooler since the box is out in the open sun. I also left the pegs in because the blues will roost on them during cold weather. They didn't seem to be in the way when the adults were going completely inside the box to feed the little ones or to remove the fecal sacs. In the pictures it looks like the box is close to the fence, but it's about eight feet away from it mounted on a pole with a baffle and grease on the pole below the baffle. After the babies fledged I cleaned the box out the next day and the nesting material was free of any bugs and completely dry. Leaving the box just the way I bought it seemed to work just fine so I won't change it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is my motto. I hope this helps you, I had a successful nesting and now the parents are bringing the young ones to my feeder for the mealworms I put out every day. My success is a combination of luck, research and all the help from members of this forum. I hope I get lucky and have another nesting but it's getting late in the season and the nights are already getting pretty cool here in the mountains of eastern WV.