Blue bird preying on nesting box

[OliviaandBrian]

I though we suddenly had an egg eater among our 4 free range hens but after careful monitoring of the nesting boxes for a few days I saw it..... the friendly bluebird that has been on our property for months was in the nesting box! What Can I do now? It happens in the afternoon when they usually have laid two eggs. Our coop and run is portable so we could relocate them but we really like the current location. Should I fill an egg with mustard as suggested as a way to break hen egg eaters? ideas?

 

[happyfrenchman]

Wow... I have never heard of such a thing. But, Bluebirds are carnivorous so I guess it makes some sense.... I would try to work out some kind of scarer. A couple of balloons or just something that would make it uneasy and keep it away. It might not be that easy to do because to a bluebird, an egg is probably enough food to feed a family. They are small so to exclude them with a barrier, you would have to use hardware cloth all around (which is always a good idea anyway). Maybe if you could get in there earlier (before they lay even) and put some fake eggs in you might discourage it. You want to keep it from getting the reward. Because every time it gets fed, it will come back.