Hi msjay, LOL is right kept looking for that very small edit button and thought maybe I was going blind! So glasses do the trick kept them on the rest of the night-not the best boxes in the world but they work for me I used 1 by's for the frame so that it was lite weight and 3/8 inch plywood- the signs came from a resturant that was remodeling and they were throwing all kinds of stuff in there dumpsters and these were leaning up against it--thank you very much--I only had to cut off 2 inches to make them fit-tight though-I did not use tracks for them just cut a groove to fit them in I think that I need to put bees wax on them to make them slide easier or something. they are attached to the kick board so that it all slides out for easy cleaning. the one project like I said is the retractable roosting poles just not sure how to get that to work but I will figure out a way-just gonna have to think about it some more. My peeps that came on Monday-I have now lost a total of 11 for some unknown reason:( vaccine failer maybe? no clue. They are replacing them and will get them on Monday! Bad thing now I have to have two separate places for both peeps. I also have 8 welsummers comming the end of Febuary first of March LOL my house is the new chicken coop!! Will be dragging out the mini coopers real soon. good job on the thread we all thank you. Nelda

Oh and I forgot to say that was a real ad on craigslist. I got lots of responses. seems like there are 2 magic numbers with beater trucks. $700 and $1600. all the responses had the same prices. here are 2 of the many Responses: I have a 1992 ford f150.The radiator hose broke the other night and went next day to fix and sure enough someone stoll the battery broke out the side windows and tried to break out the windshield and stole the spare tire.I used it to haul garbage to dump and to part time job.It has 245,000 miles transmission is rebuilt new water pump.Asking 700.00 or best offer. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% I have a 1979 Chevolet longbed truck it has a 350 motor auto. trans. camouflage in color it runs and drives great I am asking 700.00 for it if you are interested let me know I can be reached at xxxxxxxxxxxxx My boss told me to check out the last one because the year of the truck means it does not have strict emmissions (we have to have inspections), they made zillions of these trucks so the parts are easy to find and fairly inexpensive, it has a long bed which means I can haul more and this will come in handy if I need to haul full sheets of plywood PLUS it runs. downside is that it is a gas guzzler and the color. uggh I feel like CRAP so I got off work early. If I feel better this weekend I will go check it out.

Neopyte, I had my dh make my hole reducers, he has a drill press?? at work and used cedar. However I know you can purchase them also, hopefully someone else here will chime in with the where on that one. I had chickadees building last year but was a day late on the hole reducer, the HOPS ran them off. The box they had chosen wasn't one I could put a van ert in and I didn't, at the time, have a spare nestbox to use as a trapbox. Luckily the dees didn't get harmed but I was sad to see them not nest there, coincindentally the Blues ended up nesting in that same box, by that time the HOSP had either been eliminated or left the yard. They usually say to not put the reducer on until the chickadee lays the first egg as they don't care for the 1/8 hole as much but can get into it fine. If you have HOSP around though, I would do it before and hope for the best. Better to be safe than sorry. As far as seed the chickadees love sunflower seeds, hearts and chip or BOSS, the also like peanuts and suet around here. Also it isn't a good idea to put a nestbox near the birdfeeders, too much bird traffic that way. The closest nestbox I have to a feeder is about 50ft, the rest are much further away than that. It is best to point the hole of the nestbox away from prevailing winds, preferabbly towards a tree but away from the way the direction the rain usually blows during the summer months. Donna

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)