When bluebirds winter over, should nest be left in box?

I'm asking a question for my mom... her mom & dad bluebird and two fledglings are still hanging around the area where their box is. Should she pull out the nest or leave it in since bluebirds winter over in our area?
Thanks!

Hi bif, You can take the nest out. If you look at the 7th post in this thread you will see a more detailed account of removing and cleaning out a nest box.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/805666/

pelletory - thanks so much for the info. Gotta keep our bluebirds happy!

Although I didn't specifically mention it in that post, another worry is vermin; specifically lice, fleas and feather mites, which could survive in the nesting material.

I have a camera in my nest box and it gives me a live feed to an old tv I keep in the basement. Although I watched, I never saw them enter or leave so I never knew that my birds roosted in there until I installed the nest cam and started checking on them late at night. Last winter, from about mid-December to mid-February, I had one female that spent nearly every night there. The colder the night and especially when the winds blew hard, the more birds would join her. I have seen as many as three bluebirds huddled together on the floor of the box. No doubt the nesting material would have made it warmer for them but I still I would worry about the vermin. I guess if someone wanted to help them they could lay a couple of clean cotton balls in there.

I guess the number of birds crowded in there could be seen as some sort of temperature guage. Sorta like the Australian Aborigines, who, it is said, on cold nights would sleep with a dingo, a native species of wild dog. On colder nights they would sleep with two dogs and if a night was especially cold, it was a "three dog night." Which, of course, is where the band got it's name.

(But you already knew that, I suppose.)

Dave