Babies are dying in Dallas

[john e]

To my horror, I returned from a business trip to find 8 dead Martins that were within a few days of fledge. I still have two nests with very young babies and one nest where a single developed babie survived. I have put freezer bags next to, and INSIDE the actual compartment. Is that a bad idea to put it directly in the apartment??

I feel sick. This is horrible.

[Peggy Riley]

John if they are feathered I put the ice packs inside the compartment.

Weather should be OK for the next week, at least below 100. Maybe you could add some type of shade covering. There are several recent topics discussing options.

Peggy

[DebA]

John,
I too found a dead almost to fledge fully feathered baby. It was the only one in that nest. I returned home from the hospital. I'm not supposed to lift over ten pounds and not strain. Nothing was stopping me from from dropping my telescoping poles. I was most worried about two week old babies but they seem fine.

If you are in Dallas I bet we are having similar temps. I'm an hour west of Wichita. I know all houses can get hot but I want to upgrade to a Trendsetter 12. Were your babies spread out or from just a couple of nests? Maybe you can set up a mister system on timer if you are gone. Might help some.

Hang in there. I know how you felt times one yesterday for me. I too felt awful.

Deb

[john e]

Hi Deb,

Well I have nothing but positive things to say about the Trendsetter. It has a chimney that is supposed to help keep airflow in the compartments. I guess it has its limits. I lost two full nests woth 4 and 5 babies. One of the babies had crawled out on the porch and expired there. It may have something to do with oriientation as to why these 2 nests failed - but I am not sure. Half the dead were still in the nest trays. I did find one alive and took him out planning to take him to a rehabber. He died this morning.

So I am off to Home Depot to look in to getting a mister. I don't want to experience this again! Very sad!

[DebA]

I got my mister rigged up on the house with the babies. It took about 30 minutes and several close swoops for the parents to land. I extended perches this year with bamboo and mom sat under the run off drip from the roof top just by her babies entry. Shook herself off and eventually headed in the nest and stayed for 10 minutes. I wonder if she was doing the brood them with her wet feathers thing. Yesterday I offered plenty of crickets twice a day and they are all gone. We are supposed to get to 107 today.

My husband has a mister line strung along a pasture fence behind our house, that he strung up during last years' drought. We turned that back on for all of the other birds and creatures.

Truth be told I could have pulled off going to work today but hey I've now with this week off accumulated about two weeks off in the past 13 years using sick leave. They said to find a way to reduce my stress. Here's to a good start with that. Nothing I would accomplish today that cannot wait until Monday anyway.

Glad to hear typically the Trendsetter has built in remedies for heat. A house can only do so much I suspect when it gets this hot.

Deb

[DebA]

I'm up from my nap and went outside. Gasp...oppressive heat. My other martins aren't hanging around the houses but I was pleased to see at 2pm mom and pop taking turns arriving with bugs. So glad they are feeding. The mister is a wonderful thing.
Deb