Nice plans!
Of course, having House Wrens means that you won't have any other birds nesting in your yard as they routinely puncture their rivals' eggs and kill the nestlings. Still, Chickadees or Carolina Wrens might use the nest boxes instead.

Rachel, I am not sure they eradicate other species.

Oh yes they do.I will never let wrens in my boxes if it means I need to take them down.

They kill all birds nesting in the yard? Not possible.

House wrens are NOT allowed anywhere on my property and they most definitely do their very best to hijack boxes and build right over another nest (with eggs and young). They puncture eggs, remove them from nestboxes and throw out young. I have seen this directly and there is NO doubt.

If you allow house wrens, none of your other nesters are safe, especially the dees.

Since the first (uptown fancy) nestbox showed no signs of brood activity, I opened it to check it out. The wrens filled it solidly all the way up to the entry hole with cedar twigs. I heard that they sometimes do that, apparently to make the nest unavailable to other birds. I thanked them for cleaning up the yard, and emptied the box.

As for other birds, mocking birds have a nest on another side of the house in a dense shrub. I can't see it, but I can hear them feeding the chicks. It's cute -- as the chicks cheep, the parent softly sings a variety of songs to them. They seem to be doing OK. Like the mourning doves earlier, they only approach the nest when they think I'm not watching.

As for the wrens, they haven't established a working nest in the yard yet, but I hear them every day in the yard or nearby.

Elly, House wrens can and will puncture eggs and throw out babies of other "cavity" nesting birds, not all birds. I do NOT allow House wrens to nest in my yard either. Also like James mentioned they will fill all nestboxes up with sticks to prevent other cavity nesters from using them.

Donna

I know this subject has been discussed ad nausem but obviously house wrens do NOT kill every cavity nester, everywhere or there would be no other cavity nesters but house wrens. I agree they do routinely oust other nesters from boxes-blues and dees especially. They will also place sticks in boxes. I see nothing wrong with removing the sticks as long as they are not active nests-no nest cup and no eggs. If you remove house wren NESTS then you are breaking the law. House wrens are only doing what comes naturally, they are not "bad" birds and they are native birds with a lovely song. If your site for nestboxes is small you may not be able to safely host blues or dees without house wren predation. Wren guards work but not 100%. In my case the first nesting of blues, and nesting of dees and tres occur before the house wrens arrive. After that I use wren guards on the blues choice. The house wrens prefer the wooded area anyway & use the two houses provided there. They have also used a bucket and natural cavities. I am not trying to be contrary but I like all native birds & hate to see house wrens always get a bad rep.
Susan

Geez people, listen to what you are saying. My in-laws have acres of wooded property and they have hundreds of nesting birds of all species, including house wrens. Have the wrens ousted other birds? I'm sure they have. That's how they are programmed to survive and reproduce, every species has evolved its own ways of survival and reproduction. They are not on a mission to exterminate all living songbirds, LOL.

Ellly, it's my understanding that HOWR will only interrupt cavity nesters and of course, NOT ALL THE TIME, just SOMETIMES. I know they'll enter a nest box with eggs or nestlings belonging to bluebirds, chickadees, titmice and nuthatches and remove eggs or babies that are still young/small enough to carry out of the box. Baby blues should be safe after they are about 7 days old but the smaller species could still be removed at that age. So far I have dogged the bullet here,knock wood. I check all three nest boxes for signs of twigs every single day. No way they'll nest in my boxes.

They evicted my neighbors young baby dees last year (I found two, dead in my driveway) and pitched another neighbors bluebird eggs a few weeks ago. In the case of the chickadee nesting, after they removed the young babies they also pulled out the nesting material (yep, all that moss!) and then started hauling in sticks.

I've removed all the wren dummy nests and taken down the gourd they prefer after I discovered they had evicted the nesting chickadee in one house. I've also plugged the holes so they can't return and start over again. My question is: how long can I wait to unplug the holes? I haven't heard the wren's song in a day now. Does that mean it's moved on? Or will it return to see if the house is once again available? I don't like being hard-hearted either, but last year the wren actually killed a baby mourning dove in a nest. Maybe they're programmed to do that, but I don't have to provide shelter for them. I used to get bluebirds and tree swallows in my houses and they've disappeared.

James,
The plans are cool as you can build with
only one piece of wood. I checked out the link you provided-thanks. Didn't mean for your thread to be hi-jacked. Your houses look great!
Susan

vtandrea I don't think one day is enough and I don't know how long is enough. Have you tried wren guards? They don't work if the wren already knows the hole is there though. Go to the sialis website and read up on them. I always recommend sides on mine. I use cheese-it boxes to make mine. will post pics another day.
Cathy

Here is a link that might be useful: sialis

James, your boxes are very nice but I am so glad you don't live near me. I would not want your Wrens coming to kill my Blues,Dees,or TRES babies. Now if you could keep them in YOUR yard.......Hopefully you don't have any avid nestbox landlords in you neighborhood.

I won't allow house wrens to nest in my boxes either..Already have BB's and TS's nesting. There are a few empty boxes, however, and I've been tearing out sticks on a daily basis for weeks now. I'm just wondering when the little s&^%ts will give up for the season?

Do Carolina wrens nests this far north??....southern Ohio.

I'm way up here in northern Vermont. I don't know if mine are Carolina wrens, but they are definitely wrens and I have come to regard them with great animosity because of their destructive habits. I haven't heard any around for 2 days now, so I'm holding my breath that eliminating their access to the houses has done the trick.

Carolina Wrens are not destructive to any species. I have three nest boxes and have never had them show any interest in any of them. They prefer to sneak into the garage and build in a gym bag, book bag or shoe (very creative) but rarely nest in a box.

Vtandrea, your destructive wrens are house wrens. One day is definitely not long enough to be sure they're gone. Sometimes they return after even a week.

Janie is right and in addition, CAWRS are larger, more reddish brown with a very distinctive white stripe over the eye. I don't have HOWRS, but I've had Carolina nesters for two consecutive years in a wall planter next to my patio and have never seen even one twig used as nesting material. They are delightful birds and I love having them around!

Donna

Just a follow-up to say that the wrens are totally gone ever since I plugged up the access to all birdhouses. I don't even hear it singing (if you can call it that.) Now can anyone tell me if chickadees nest more than once in a season? I've already unplugged the birdhouse where Mama Chickadee had her nest before the wren destroyed it.

From what I've read, chickadees nest once UNLESS they've had a disrupted nesting and then they might very well try again. Even if they had eggs that were destroyed they'll usually try for a successful nesting.

I've had a few late Carolina Chickadee nestings and I figured it was because they tried, for some reason the first one failed, so they're trying again. Good luck, hope it work out for your dees. They are me favorite box nester!

I've been away for a while, and now catching on your replies to my posting. I had no idea that I would inspire a debate, but at least it was educational. Here is what I have observed, at least so far.

I have a pair of mocking birds nesting not far from the wren nestboxes, in spite of Rachel's warning that I would have no other birds nesting in the vicinity. It is very well hidden in a densely foliated bush. I haven't actually seen it, because I hestiate to pry into the bush for fear of disturbing the nest. But I hear the babies chirping when the parents visit to feed them. I am amused that when the parents see me looking towards the nest they will wait nearby, and as soon I look away, they dart into the bush. But I am looking out of the corner of my eye, or over the top of my glasses.

There are no bluebirds in my area, which was a concern to some. But I have chickadees in the neighborhood, and passing through my yard, as well as the wrens. They must be getting along somehow.

Currently, all three wren nestboxes are empty, including the one that I emptied of spruce twigs after the wrens filled it up.

I am thinking of enlarging the hole of one of the nestboxes to accommodate chickadees, but haven't done so yet. Does any one know how chickadee nesting preferences differ from wren preferences?