Not a good start this year
hail storm may have wiped out about half of my PM's. Was bad, but some areas was hole lot worse. Feel sorry for PM's, had 168 eggs, probably none of them any good, seems the gourds with the screw on caps took the worse beating. hail either bet them off or went right through the older ones. Might be wise to replace them every few years? Houses was unscaved. But don't know yet how many missing that got caught in the storm? Course everthing else got beat to crap also. So much for my garden, pears, and cherries this year. They were loaded this year too. Not many left now.
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
Sorry to hear that. About all that can be done is let it play out, and hope for a better year next year. R.C, we needed rain real bad, and we were lucky, we got 5in and no wind....great for the martins and yards & gardens
PMCA Member, 250 gourds, 6 poles, 2traps
Sorry to hear about the problems with hail. I had problems one year and know something of how you feel. Mine were not as bad as first feared, perhaps yours will not be either. Emil answered about right. Sometimes we just ride things out because there isn't much else we can do. were I close enough I would try to come help you. Hang in there. Blue Sky will come again, maybe sooner than you think.
T. Seber
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Guest
RC,
Been a bad spring for Oklahoma landlords. Hope you recover OK. That storm was coming down I-40 toward me but turned south. Tornado hit me Tuesday night, high straight winds Wednesday night.
Wishing you the best.
Been a bad spring for Oklahoma landlords. Hope you recover OK. That storm was coming down I-40 toward me but turned south. Tornado hit me Tuesday night, high straight winds Wednesday night.
Wishing you the best.
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Sam Harris
- Posts: 280
- Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:23 am
- Location: Oklahoma/Choctaw & Tinker AFB
Oh no. Im so sorry to hear that. I was out at Tinker this morning, but I am afraid to check tomorrow. I have had a pair hanging out at my place. Hope they stay.
Sam
Choctaw, OK
2010...1 pair/5 eggs/5 fledged
2011...2pair/9 eggs/7 fledged
2012...5 pair/28 eggs/25 fledged
2013...12 pair/62 eggs/51 fledged
2014...15 pair/85 eggs/55 fledged
Choctaw, OK
2010...1 pair/5 eggs/5 fledged
2011...2pair/9 eggs/7 fledged
2012...5 pair/28 eggs/25 fledged
2013...12 pair/62 eggs/51 fledged
2014...15 pair/85 eggs/55 fledged
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Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6208
- Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi, TX
So sorry to hear it, RC. You offer great housing and take good care of your martins. Mother nature is making it hard for so many birds and wildlife this year! Please let us know how things go. Just saw OK hail reports on weather this AM and it looked awful.
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John Miller
- Posts: 4866
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
RC
I too saw the OK City weather report last evening and my heart sank -- sorry I made an earlier post here about some light rain in St. Louis.
Do what you can now...duct tape stuff until you can do better. I know your martins are in the best hands in the area.
John M
I too saw the OK City weather report last evening and my heart sank -- sorry I made an earlier post here about some light rain in St. Louis.
Do what you can now...duct tape stuff until you can do better. I know your martins are in the best hands in the area.
John M
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Dick Sherry
- Posts: 774
- Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 5:30 pm
- Location: Tulsa, OK
RC, I am sorry about all the hail damage you got Sunday. Hope your birds survived and will lay more eggs. Your area has sure had a terrible couple of weeks with the severe storms. Hope the rest of the season stays calm and you still raise a lot of young martins. Hang in there.
Ok, thanks all, got a somewhat of a count, working late this week, Think I got about 26 to 30 pairs out of 48, will hopefully get good count this weekend providing All hell don't break loose tomorrow again. Prediction is another hellish two days. Watching weather channel now showing Dummis Texas, why does that bring back recent memories or nightmares? 
Had parts to fix up the gourds so all secure again, some of my vents (PVC elbows) got knocked off. I still don't think alot of those eggs will hatch but we will see. Wife in Az and got the camera so no pic. You should seen what it done to my strawberry triple riser beds. Smashed them then all the hail froze them. The fog from all the hail produced was weird!
Had parts to fix up the gourds so all secure again, some of my vents (PVC elbows) got knocked off. I still don't think alot of those eggs will hatch but we will see. Wife in Az and got the camera so no pic. You should seen what it done to my strawberry triple riser beds. Smashed them then all the hail froze them. The fog from all the hail produced was weird!
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Guest
That is one bad thing about natural gourds R.C. Maybe you have to get some good quality plastic gourds. I favor the naturals myself & so do my martins. I'm always afraid of a hail storm might ruin mine. I know your colony will bounce back. The best of luck to a fine man.