Congrats, and break out the candy cigars! Sometimes they remove unhatched eggs, sometimes not. I like to wait at least 3 extra days to see if it will hatch, but after that, a nestling would be so far behind the others, it would not likely be able to compete and would not survive anyway. You don't have to remove unhatched eggs, but usually I do. They are SO fragile, though, it must be done very carefully. You don't want to crush it and soil the nest, which would surely attract ants and other problems. You can use a spoon; I have a nice plastic one that came with MiracleGro that has 2 ends, one end is very deep and holds the egg nicely so it won't roll out. BlueBars

Anita, I have a similar situation in that my bluebirds are back for a second brood. The house wrens didn't bother the box during nest building (and the box had been empty for about a month and there were no sticks). Mama laid her 1st egg this morning and this evening, a house wren took out that egg and smashed it at the base of the box. I think that now I'd say "the rule is that there are NO RULES!" I've had house wrens attack several eggs or several chicks, never just one egg. As far as putting up a wren guard, the problem you have is that the house wren has been in the box. And where there is one house wren, there are usually more near by. The reasoning behind the general rule of putting the wren guard on the box when the 1st egg is laid is that the female is less likely to abandon the nest if she can't figure out the wren guard. It's also hard to say whether your female is 'with egg' and I'd hate to see her not be able to get into the box to lay her 1st egg, if that makes any sense. You could wait till it's afternoon and the bluebird hasn't laid an egg and put it on. If she can't figure it out, I'd take it off till the afternoon of the next day, etc. Good luck, Linda in NW GA...

I like watching birds and don't like to see them hurt, but why pick on cats? It's their nature to hunt small animals. They've been doing it for over thousands of years. Aren't people more of threat to birds than cats anyway? With all the building that goes on, birds will probably become extinct one day. I live in what is supposed to be a rural area but it's like anytime a developer (or whoever) sees trees, they tear them down to build houses and stores. It's getting out of hand. My personal rule is that I don't interfere with nature. I would've left the nest alone. If birds are that stupid to build nests where predators can get to them then they deserve whatever they get. Around here dogs are the biggest threat to birds. Several of the neighborhood dogs have a bad habit of killing small animals. One of them even ate my father's rooster! The only birds my cat has killed is those annoying Blue Jays who were just asking for it. Those cocky things fly around teasing the cat so when one gets eaten I don't feel sorry for it. Stupid birds.

These little cutie pies are one of my favs! I've had them nesting around my house for several years, and they are well known for nesting in very unusual places! A friend of mine had them nesting in a football helmet on a shelf in her garage! I find it best not to peek at them at all, but you can observe from short distance. As long as the parents are going in and out, everything should be OK. As fledging draws near, don't be alarmed if the parents are not frequenting the nest as often as they did when the babies were young. I was fortunate to see a group fledge last year, but this year, they fledged when I was not at home! They are such fun little birds to watch!