I second all Jane's thoughts. If you can be prepared, bluebirding is an extremely rewarding experience. Many of us(correction: MOST of us) have had to deal with house sparrows. I can't tell you how many people I've known who, in the first year hosting bluebirds they have success, and for some reason, the house sparrows become a bigger problem in the second year, and people are taken by surprise (or shock) when the house sparrows kill the male in the box, or the female as she incubates eggs, or they smash unattended eggs, or toss the eggs out. In my first experience, a male house sparrow killed 6 newborn hatchlings by pecking them on the head. So if you decide to proceed, just be prepared. Bet's web site, www.sialis.org is a wonderful resource, and we will be here if you need us. Another option is to add hole reducers and host chickadees, if they are in your area. The proper hole reducer will prevent house sparrows from entering. You might want to read up on that at the website linked below. P.S. The little round wooden thing that many bluebird nestboxes come with (some people call them "predator guards") which extends the entrance does not protect anything from predators. BlueBars Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.sialis.org/

Sandy My neighbor has horses too and a few years ago the hosps had taken over almost all of the barn swallow nests in the barn. They like all swallows eat TONS of bugs. She also wanted Bluebirds. I told her I wouldn't help her unless she were willing to get rid of the hosps and use spookers and such. Long story short I finally convinced her she need to get rid of the hosps so I started trapping there. She now has all of her barn swallows back and I have nine boxes there full of Bluebirds and Tree Swallows. We could probably have Purple Martins too if she were willing to buy a house or a gourd system (better) that has the starling resistant entrances. It is kind of time consuming and continuous but well worth it. Cathy

Good for you for taking on this project. My best advice is to ask questions on this forum. You will get great advice. I will tell you my story in hopes that it will help you. About 3 years ago my son gave me 2 bluebird houses for Christmas. We put them up over the holidays. We had bluebids in both houses the next season (since bluebirds are in my area all year, we saw a male looking at one of the houses the day we put it up). That next year I also made some of my own houses, found some that had been on the property for years that I did not know about, and bought some houses. I am in my 3rd year and am monitoring 17 houses. The increase in bluebirds over the past 3 years has been amazining. We've gone from hardly ever seeing a bluebird to seeing one every time we walk out the door. I have tried to cover the basics with each of my houses. All but 3 of my houses are on a metal or PVC pole that is 1 to 1 1/2 inch in diameter (and those 3 will be soon). They all are NABS approved houses. All of these houses have a predator guard on the poles. I always attach a sparrow spooker to each house as soon as the first egg in layed. I try to check each house at least once a week. I keep detailed records on each house for each check. I rely on this forum and the web site "sialis.org" for information and questions that I may have. Over the past 3 years I have lost very few blues (although each lose will affect you). On my first nesting this year I have about 65 eggs/babies/fledglings. I am going into my second nesting on some of my houses this season. It will take up a lot of your time, but believe me, it will be worth your efforts. Keep us posted on your experiences. Phil

Linda, If you look at these picture you can see how I put eye screws in the top of the box. Then I tied a couple 3/4 inch washers on the end of the fish line for weight, that's so the line doesn't blow around and get tangled up. You don't want it hanging too close to the opening or there is a risk of the blues getting tangled in it. Then put it through the other eye screws and tie washers on the other end. If you look closely at the second photo you can see where I filed a very narrow notch in the roof so the string hangs in the same place all the time. Just pull it down tight in the notch being carefull not to break it. Also in the first picture you see the silver mylar ribbons hanging on the box. That is the curly gift wrapping ribbon type stuff that you put on Christmas or birthday gifts. It's waterproof and it blows around in the wind. For some reason I can't explain, the sparrows won't go near it. I learned that trick from another Bluebird web site. A woman researcher in CA. discovered that the sparrows don't like it. As far as the screen inside, I left mine in so the nest is off the bottom of the box so it stays dry. There are vents that let the air circulate and that also helps it stay cooler since the box is out in the open sun. I also left the pegs in because the blues will roost on them during cold weather. They didn't seem to be in the way when the adults were going completely inside the box to feed the little ones or to remove the fecal sacs. In the pictures it looks like the box is close to the fence, but it's about eight feet away from it mounted on a pole with a baffle and grease on the pole below the baffle. After the babies fledged I cleaned the box out the next day and the nesting material was free of any bugs and completely dry. Leaving the box just the way I bought it seemed to work just fine so I won't change it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is my motto. I hope this helps you, I had a successful nesting and now the parents are bringing the young ones to my feeder for the mealworms I put out every day. My success is a combination of luck, research and all the help from members of this forum. I hope I get lucky and have another nesting but it's getting late in the season and the nights are already getting pretty cool here in the mountains of eastern WV.