Donna is right the guard may not work since the Wren knows it's there. One other thought is (when the first egg is laid) to turn the box 1/4 turn, you will have to watch to be sure mom finds the hole and not the Wren. As soon as Mom finds it put the guard up making sure there are sides on the guard so the hole can not be seen from the top of the box. Again make sure Mom finds it. Last ditch effort would be to move the box entirley in plain view of the Blues. If none of this is successful the worst that will happen is you will lose the eggs and the Blues will nest again. Also get a high powered water gun and attack the Wren whenever you see it near the box. Good Luck!

very carefully (with a wide spatula or putty knife) remove the nest from the box, put it in a little paper bag of some sort (plastic will draw moisture which isn't good) and store it somewhere dry. sometime in the future, it may come in handy if an active nest is plagued with ants or mites, etc. as for preventing wren activity, it's pretty much a lost cause (at least in my own experience) once a wren has found the nest box. you may be able to move the box to a different location where you have not yet seen or heard wrens. if the blues nest again, immediately after the first egg is laid, slap a wren guard up and you might have a better chance of a successful nesting. i am holding my breath...i have 4 eggs due to hatch next wednesday, my female absolutely refuses to accept a wren guard and i'm hearing wrens all over the place. ugh!

Have you checked around your neighborhood, talked to all of the homeowners within a several block radius, and called local animal control/sheriff/police and your local shelters and vets to see if anyone is missing this kitten? If not, you should do so. Once you've taken care of that, then you can decide whether or not to adopt this little one. For the last 8 yrs, I've had one or more new felines appear on my farm nearly every year. After capturing the new cat and making the obligatory call to the sheriff's dept to file a "found cat" report, I integrate him/her into my household. #15 just showed up a month or so ago and is still in the integration process. I use a technique similar to pamghatten, but I fill the doorway to the newbie's room with baby gates rather than a screen door. The gates serve the same purpose, though - to allow the cats to see, smell, and talk to each other without actual physical contact. The period of time the newbie stays in the gated room depends on everyone's reactions to each other. When I feel everyone is ready for face-to-face introductions, I usually put the newbie in a harness (NOT collar) and light leash so that I can control matters if unpleasantness occurs. But my newbies are usually young adult, intact toms (neutered as soon as I capture them) with a lot of aggression issues. It would probably not be necessary to leash a young kitten - esp. a female - though you would certainly need to keep a constant eye on your older cats to make sure they don't injure her. You're less likely to have significant conflict with a female kitten than with a male kitten. Males tend to be relentlessly rowdy and bothersome. Still, there will be an adjustment period, esp. for your timid girl. I would expect, though, that your timid girl will learn to enjoy a baby playmate once she gets over her initial terror and realizes that the kitten isn't trying to kill her. My biggest concern is that the timid girl's tentative health status may deteriorate if she becomes badly stressed during the kitten's integration period. That's something to consider. Good luck whatever you decide. Laurie

OOh, Allison, my table top looks almost identical to your "before" pic so you have given me hope! Thanks. Now, they made me a NEW "old" table. They did NOT use the maple top. Maple does not take stain very well and wouldn't get as dark as I wanted. busybee3, the places in the close up that look like "burn marks" are the gouges. They stained darker than the top of the wood. I don't remember what they used to seal, but it made a stink for a few days after. It was not a shiny finish - matte. I never use shiny. Our hardwood floors were finished with tung oil because I wanted no shine whatsoever. My island (antique pine) was finished with Good Stuff For Wood. Not sure why they didn't use it on the table too. I will take a better picture of the top, but I'm running late so I cant do it now.