All 8 Hatched

[ljd-kc]

I have a nest where all 8 eggs have hatched. As of today they are 5 days old. Anyone had a nest where all 8 have fledged successfully? Wondering if I should move 1 or 2.

Jack

[Gary W]

Hi Jack,

That is a very rare event, and the young all look healthy! It certainly would be interesting to see if the parents could pull it off! Of course, if you have others nests with 3 or 4 young at the same age, you could take some pressure off the octagon parents by transferring a couple of babies. I will just leave you to call the shot on this one!

Gary

[Dan Clodfelter]

Yes , last year I had a nest with 9 eggs hatch and fledge . This has been the most I had ever seen or heard of and as of right now my best number is 7 for this year .

[tonyg]

Pretty amazing stuff... I have 5 nest of 7 baby's..That's the most I have ever had in one nest..

[Louise Chambers]

Nests of 8 are very rare. I know of one that fledged all eight, the landlord kept good notes and took photos, which we were able to share in the Update. If food supplies are good, that will help, and a pair of experienced ASY parents will increase odds of success too. You could supply some crickets or mealworms regularly, which would help the parents out a lot. They look good so far!

[Ed Pace]

I was just wondering what type of housing
these large numbers of babies come from?

Ed

[~Ray~Gingerich]

I found an 8 egg nest in a Bo-11 during yesterdays nest check, it contained 7 eggs on the previous weekly check.

[bobnjo]

We also found a nest with 8 eggs today, hope they all grow up to fledge too.

Hope all of our OctoNests make it.

[ljd-kc]

Thanks for all the responses! I would like to leave them if I could. The parents, both ASY seem to be in and out a lot trying to keep up. But the weather hasn't been much help this year, been kind of dry, especially lately.

Ed, My ASY pair picked a Troyer Horizontal to lay their 8 eggs in. May be tight quarters if they all stay together!

Thanks,

Jack

[Laverne]

How are the octanestlings doing today?

[ljd-kc]

Laverne,

They are approximately 17 days old today, and they seem to be doing fine. It has been pretty dry here but our colony is very close to the Platte River, and I would think this would help some. I have been supplying a few crickets each morning and evening inside the cavity and they are gone by the next feeding time.

Dana and Ethan and Devin from the Missouri River Bird Observatory came out on 6/8 for the first round of banding and we got a couple of pictures. Ethan said they were all very close to the same weight which I believe is good. They are supposed to email us that data along with the rest of the birds that were banded. Here are some pictures that were taken while they were here.

[Martin man RI]

I have a set of 8 eggs first time ever. Way up here in the Northeast.
Rehoboth MA. Crescent Super gourds did the trick. The food supply must be way up many birds have 7 eggs also. ----Ray

[lynnh]

We have a nest of 8 eggs in a t-14 as well.

[tonyg]

Great news Jack! Three of my gourds with 7 all hatched and are doing fine also. Been dry here also, but all of my colony's babies seem to be doing fine. Good luck and keep us posted at fledging time..

[Laverne]

They look awesome, Jack. I believe they're all gonna make it! Thank you for sharing them with us... and they're banded, too.

Great photos!

[Courtney-NC]

We banded a nest of 8 today at the NCPMS site in Raleigh. All the young from that nest looked good. It was in a crescent supergourd. We also had a few 7-young nests as well. One of the 7-young nests was in a Lonestar Goliad house.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I wish you the best of luck. Basically, I am not thrilled with such a large clutch, what often happens is that the fledglings are not strong enough to fly. I would much rather see 5 or 6 strong healthy babies that can fly on their first attempt. But so much depends upon the weather. If the weather stays dry and hot, you should quickly consider helping them out by providing addition food for them (supplemental feeding). Such a large group does not stand much of a chance if the bugs are not abundant. If the bugs are abundant, you may be able to pull it off. I think that the type of housing does not matter much, but larger cavities and better insulated cavities would definitely be a plus in this situation

[ljd-kc]

I have attached a picture taken from the tunnel of their cavity on 6/21 at 6:45 am, they were 28 days old in this picture. That evening at 5:30 pm all had fledged except one, I checked the band number , it was # C073. This little guy was not the smallest at banding time but next to the smallest, coming in at a weight of 56.7 at 17 days old. Today being 6/23 the little guy is now approximately 30 days old and as of this evening at 5:10 pm he still had not yet fledged. Below are the weights when they were banded at approximately 17 days of age. Hoping he stays as long as it takes to be successful on his first flight, better in the nest than on the ground. Tomorrow will be his or her day I hope.

61.7 - C071
63.2 - C072
56.7 - C073
57.4 - C074
57.9 - C075
59.9 - C076
56.4 - C077
58.5 - C078

Jack

[baileysambone]

Jack,
Let us know how he does.
I had a pair that laid 9 eggs. 8 hatched, but 3 babies died, and I was helping the parents feed them by putting crickets in the compartment.
It was my first and only pair this year. 5 fledged successfully. Very exciting.
Yvonne

[ljd-kc]

Hi Yvonne,

I see from your profile you have a trendsetter 12 w/4 gourds. Which did they choose to nest in? That is really neat that she layed 9 eggs. Late in the season this year I put up a Trendsetter 12 with a few gourds under it. My first house. Congratulations and I hope you fill up that Trendsetter next year!

Jack