I had an interesting situation at our house. Bought a flower planter and left it on our front porch about chest high off the porch. I saw a bird's nest appear a couple weeks later but never saw a bird so I tossed the nest into the bushes to mulch. Then I saw the flowers were trampled and looked to see why and found 3 Robin's eggs in the flower bed. I used utensils to retrieve the nest from the bushes and carefully laid the 3 eggs into the nest. All the while the mama Robin was squawking at me. I checked and saw the bird returned to the nest and was doing some tidying up. Then low and behold she reclaimed the nest. Later that same day I saw 4 eggs as she apparently had one in reserve. She is nesting nicely now and we can't wait to see her little hatchlings come to life. I did handle the nest by hand at first when I tossed it but who knows if the bird cared. It makes sense that birds don't have a sense of smell.

Hi, April, it's on it's way!!!!!!!!!! If you winter sow, there will be some seeds to get ready for. Here's the dcn: 0303 1290 0001 1505 7762. Jeanette, you were so kind to me, and I thank you for that very much!!! I always enjoy sorting through the packets of these robins. I hope someone can use what I added. Thanks again for letting me play! It was great! : ) Treasa

Unless it's a big nest, or you see more than one nest in the box, I'd suspect plain old House Mouse rather than a Deermouse. Deermice are country mice, Housemice are urban/suburban. Deermice live in groups of up to 10, so where there is one nest, you will often find another. Cold weather means tiny little herds of deermice are trying to move in where it's warm, which is why I have two cats living in the kitchen/back porch. One is a great mouser, the other is a great goof off, but they keep my kitchen rodent free. Otherwise, if I didn't have the cats, I would use glue traps, but only because: (tender hearted soul that I am) 1) This is a farm, so I have plenty of open land to let them go. 2) I know how to get almost any animal off a glue trap without harming it. (other than an insect -sorry, but I've not had much luck saving spiders or crickets) The secret is cooking oil. Corn oil, cheap-o vegetable oil, if you're feeling really bad about making the vermin suffer, you could use extra virgin olive oil, but really, it doesn't matter. Just slide the glue trap and the struggling varmint onto a cookie sheet or sturdy piece of cardboard to support it while you carry it outside. (In our case, that would be outside and at least a 1/4 mile away from the house, but just outside works if you're in town) When you get to the release site, just set the cookie sheet/cardboard down, and pour corn oil over the rodent. Oil disolves the glue in less than a minute, and your greasy little varmint will have pulled itself off the trap and will be staggering away into the grass. The rat/mouse/chipmunk/baby squirrel will take care of cleaning itself, which is why you use edible oil. Lizards, frogs and toads don't clean themselves, but it won't hurt them either. If you catch a bird, you'll have to carefully wash the oil out of it's feathers with dish soap, like they do for seabirds caught in an oil slick. This is also what I'd suggest you do if you catch a litter of kittens. (which happened to one of my neighbors, who called me in a panic about it)

Hi Andrea- Congratulations! So glad they're back! I love Chickadees too. They have a hard time getting & keeping nests too, so maybe you'll get them another time. Once the nest is complete, you could see the 1st egg any time. Mine laid their 1st egg 24 hours after they completed the nest. I've got 6 5-day old nestlings right now. Praying they will fledge successfully. Definitely get that sparrow spooker up as soon as you notice that 1st egg. I've had a male HOSP approach box twice that I know of, but he didn't enter, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Do you have a baffle below box to combat other predators? That is so sad about those birds freezing last February. So awful! It's easy to get attached, isn't it? EABL keep their nests so clean & are so attentive to their young. Saying a little prayer that you & your pair will have a successful nesting experience! If you get a chance, holler back when you get an egg. Best of luck! Nicole