Fescue is a type of grass called bunch grass. The other kind is a carpet type of grass that spreads with either stolons (over the ground) or rhizomes (under ground). Bunch grasses spread but they spread so slowly you don't really notice. When a bunch grass dies, you really have to start over. Your back yard is dead. Why? I suspect you have a fungal disease that is continuing to kill your grass. It could be insects, but a fungus is easier to treat (my way) and hurts nothing while you're figuring out if you have insects. If you apply ordinary corn meal (from your local feed store) at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet now, in three weeks your fungal disease should be gone. I'm saying this assuming you have not used any commercial fungicides and don't plan to. Then you can start over like you never had a lawn. Seed heavily, roll the seed down with a water fillable roller, and water daily several times for 15 minutes at a time. Turning off the water and using RoundUp will not stop the fungus and there is no need to kill anything before you reseed. Just mow them to the ground. I started watering at night last year and it seems to work fine for me. We are required by law (heh heh) to water only at night. Just for grins (it's only grass) I thought I'd give it a try. I have not had any more fungal disease than I normally do. So I water from sundown to midnight or whenever I go to sleep in the summer. Your mileage may vary. I normally get a fungus disease every May after my kids build a fort out of yard trimmings. Corn meal always works for me. If you decide to use corn meal, be sure you don't get corn GLUTEN meal. It costs 6x more than ordinary corn meal and does not work the same. You should pay about $6-$7 for 50 pounds of ordinary corn meal.

Redsox: Thanks! I'll try to give you the thumbnail explanation: Used to be grass. Then in Spring of 2005 I asked if we could convert it to garden space. We rototilled and without removing the turned grass added newspaper, compost and LOTS of dirt. Setting the stones and putting in the dirt really took us one weekend consisting of Friday - Sunday. My husband worked really hard and I kept up as best I could. So I guess three days of toil with one very strong person one reasonably fit person in a support capacity. Do you think something like that might work for you? They call the landscapes stones 'keystones' I believe. Kate

The boxes were paired about 10 feet apart,they each began building nest and the both began laying eggs ,Then All of the sudden,The TRES decided they wanted the other box.They moved in and began laying more eggs with the Wren eggs,even carefully adding nesting material under the the Wren eggs.I noticed the Wren was going in the other box where the TRES used to be.I thought for sure they would throw out the TRES eggs and rebuild another nest,But they didn't,she began incubating the TRES eggs.The start of incubation was a week apart,so I couldn't just switch everything.I was surprised some of the eggs hatched.I did contact a rehaber as soon as I noticed what was going on.Since TRES feed in the air,there was no way each Species would have survived once fledging.Here is the surviving TRES from the video,He/She was pulled from the nest just before it was due to fledge.It was released a few weeks later by the rehaber.

It's been a while, but here is an update! Wrens did appear the day our chickadee nest was emptied, so we are guessing they were responsible. The mother chickadee spent one more night on her empty nest before abandoning it. We ended up putting duct tape over the hole so the wrens couldn't use it and boy did that make them mad! I've learned that we may have played a role in the chickadees demise. Three years ago chickadees nested in our yard, but the next year wrens did. We kept removing the sticks, but they promptly replaced them. The wrens are hard workers, I'll give them that. Finally we left the wrens alone and they completed a nest, etc. From what I've read, once you let wrens nest in your yard, they become very territorial of it and it is almost impossible for chickadees to have a successful nest there. Last year we put up two very low bluebird boxes and the wrens built dummy nests in them. Also we had put a few wood chips in our nest box. I think the reason chickadees like a box with wood chips is that it mimics an old woodpecker's nest. If woodpeckers successfully nested in a spot, there is probably a higher chance it will be successful for chickadees. So maybe we gave them a false sense of security. Well, we live and learn. Every once in a while now I will be outside and I'll hear two chickadees calling and they will fly close to me and flit all around and it makes me really happy. We now have flickers nesting in an old woodpecker hole in our birch tree. Starlings recently fledged from that hole, and there have been a few brawls, but I've got my fingers crossed. A few times I have gone out and banged pans to frighten the starlings away and it seems to work! Good luck with your nest boxes Donna! Thanks for the pep talk, it was nice to talk with someone who could relate! Annie