Well, so far Lexa there are little - no signs of HOSP using my boxes. So no Van Ert Trapping. For the first time in at least 2 years - my bluebirds have staked a first claim from one of my box pairs. There are now a few pieces of grass formed into a circle in one of my boxes. The male and female bluebird were hanging around behind the box, so I'm thinking it has to be them. Plus I haven't seen any HOSP on/near my boxes yet. Unfortunately, today I trapped yet another Chickadee. 4th one. My brother put some bait in there I didn't want him too, so this is probably what got the chickadee. The little guy was going back and forth. Approaching I saw it but couldn't tell what it was. Was thinking "come on, HOSP please" nope, another Chickadee. Although frantic, he had no damage and appeared healthy. It took him a minute to find the exit. Little guy bursted out and the next minutes he was up in the tree calling away. I'm not giving up yet! I've brought bread crumbs to the equation. I should have one eventually. Indeed with the "rogue" sparrow Lexa! I am gonna convince my neighbor to get a universal trap for his Martin Trio house, as removing the HOSP last season caused European Starlings to move in and start nesting. The Spar-o-door traps are too small for Starlings. I'm just glad my overall efforts to get rid of the HOSP have been successful. I've really changed things around here.

I would definitely put up a second box. Chickadees really seem to like Gilbertsons (painted to look like a birch tree - also not very attractive to House Sparrows) and small NABS style boxes. Here in CT, chickadees nest before blues. I always put a hole reducer on the INSIDE of the hole when chickadees nest, as they tend to get ousted by larger birds. I had very few chickadee nests on my trail last year. Here is a link that might be useful: all about nesting chickadees.

In case the eggs are still OK - maybe you can try moving the nest? I'm not sure if it's possible to reach or if the parents will accept it. But most of the the time it works. I have personally made a little move/remaking a fallen open cap nests with chicks in it, and once I moved a starling nest with eggs from the hole under the roof. I moved it because the chicks were falling out of the hole and it was not the best nesting site. First I screwed the birdhouse to the wall in such a way that the hole in the birdhouse was as close as possible to the hole the birds were using. After that I moved the nest with the eggs into the birdhouse and sealed the hole under the roof. I watched the parents - they started going inside the birdhouse after a very short time. I gave them a few days to get use to the new nesting site and after that I moved it to a pole about 4' from the wall where the house was originally located. They accepted it again and raised chicks from the eggs I moved. You can probably do the same for your birds. If its fails - well, as you said, maybe it's for the best.

eddie, I don't have any experience with my Carolina Chickadees reusing old nests, but then I always clean out my boxes once fledging occurs. I did a bit of research on-line, and found that the general opinion seems to be that they will not reuse an old nest, but will instead throw it out and build a new one. They will come back to the same site each year for nesting. So, I would check the nest box to be sure that they have not begun to build a new nest on top of the old one. If they have not, then I would remove the old nest so that they can use the box. JMHO ~~Angie Here is a link that might be useful: Re: reuse of old Chickadee nest