Thanks for the replies - so far the House Wren has not touched the surviving two Baby Blues - and momma and Papa are taking care of them. However - I can hear the Wrens all around, and I also am removing sticks from the other boxes around the property. I should have tried a Wren guard - however I have never put one on - so was worried about the Blues not taking too it. But if they nest again, I will for sure try it - after the first egg is laid. One a side note - we have a dead tree in our back yard - that a wood pecker bored a hole in, and must now have a nest in it. I saw her chasing the wren a way - but her nest is pretty high up. Also - we have a Phoebe nesting under our overhang - this is her second year. I went and checked her eggs out - and there was a Cowbird egg in it! We also had two robins nest near our house - both nests were robbed of their eggs - I'm thinking the crows got at them. Unfortunately no Chickadee nests in our boxes this year.. but probably best because of the Wrens..... seems like they arrived early this year. So did the humming birds.

bedeilia congrats on your chickadee nest. I would advise putting a wren guard on the chickadee box until they are 9-10 days old. I am glad you do not let the wrens nest. I would like to invite you to share your story and join the blue bird nut cafe forum. It is similar to this website but much more active and if you post your question there, you will get more help and answers. Hope to see you there. http://bluebirdnutcafe.yuku.com/ -Tyler This post was edited by tmann05 on Thu, Jun 27, 13 at 9:41

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

Since house wrens are protected, you can only discourage them. I have left boxes open, and always remove "dummy" nests that they put in (just sticks, no nest cup). Sometimes if you leave the box open for a few days they will leave to look for more suitable housing, and then you can close the box to make it available to other birds. They are awful, horrible birds. I had a nest of Black-Capped chickadees and they broke every egg and threw them out of the box. Then they didn't even use the box. They are destructive and very persistent.