When it gets 108 to 110

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Has anyone ever tried to take the babies inside your home during such a hot day, then replacing them about an hour before dark? I wonder what would happen. Of course, you would need to number the containers....This may be a totally wrong idea. The parents may abandon them. This should only be considered when you think that they will not survive the heat. I surely never tried it. Or maybe you could leave only 1 in the nest....just thinking of a way to save them

[jedin]

Hi,
I am totally new, first nest ever in process with 5 babies that are now 19 days old and I know I have read your help a lot.

In my reading recently, someone noted they took the young that had jumped from the heat and put them in a 5 gallon bucket with nesting material and as I recall placed over cool water in a garage to cool them down. Left them in the cool for the day and did as you suggest replacing when it cooled down at night when parents would normally begin feeding. I have read so much trying to find info to help assure my first group's survival I could be wrong. Seems like they continued this for the hot days and it worked.

I have been worried as heck about 104-5. Can't imagine 110 and up.
Janet

[Dale D]

Emil, Like you I have never tried it but, in extreme temperatures like you are talking about I have to think their chances would be greatly enhanced by this measure. Now I have taken the occasional jumper due to the heat and brought them in for 30 minutes or so to recoup before putting it back in the nest.

[~Ray~Gingerich]

You could always leave the healthy one in the nest, while the others get a break.

[AvianStewardess]

I am brand new so this is just a wondering...if bringing into the house would be best...because it will be going through an approximate thirty degree temperature drop and some sort of humidity change instantly...is that good for a baby bird? I know all is very unchartered territory...just trying to help us see the whole scenario before rushing in...

[Louise Chambers]

There are no absolute answers to tough situations, but certainly the place to start is by taking steps to make housing more comfortable and safer for the martins in their nests, while leaving it to the parents to care for them.

That means supplying shade, more ventilation, and/or cooling to the nests, and possibly supplying supplemental food. Be careful with misters or sprinkling, as if humidity is already high, misting won't help and could make things worse - save misting for low humidity heat.

Removing nestlings from housing during the day runs the risk of parents returning with food to find no young, and that could mean they will not return to feed the young birds once the landlord puts them back in the house.

I know some landlords who have removed & returned nestlings during extreme heat, but that does not guarantee that others will have success doing the same thing. Use caution when you take steps to help the birds, always.

[Laverne]

I agree with Louise. If the trend is going to continue toward higher and higher temperatures every summer, then our only hope is to develop cooler housing that will allow the young to survive. It's the only practical solution. So, we're gonna need more shade, better insulation, and better ventilation. Maybe we need to develop some housing that will make it easy to heat the nest cavity during cold temperatures and cool the nest cavity during hot temperatures... at reasonable prices so the upgrades would be affordable to all landlords...

[john e]

Hi Louise,

I think misting is a very economical answer. Since the process of evaporation will work even in high humidity. Presently, in Dallas, the humidity reading is 41% (taken from my local weather report). I will cut and paste what I found on the web regarding high humidity:

"I live in a humid climate. Will a misting system work for me? Absolutely. The concept behind misting systems and evaporative coolers works any time you are able to achieve evaporation. The faster and more complete the evaporation, the more effective the system will work. For areas with humidity above 80%, temperature reductions will be as high as 10 degrees. For humidity levels between 40% and 80%, temperature reductions will be as high as 20 degrees. Below 40% humidity, the temperature reductions may be as much as 35 degrees."

So, you should be able to achieve a 10 degree temperature drop in just about any climate in North America.

Hope that helps.

John

[GeneP]

We need to teach them to nest under trees. I'll bet those houses we all see with established colonies under trees are still thriving in the heat.
Go figure.

[Spiderman]

Last year we had many jumpers due to the heat. I put them in 5 gallon buckets in the garage and fed them crickets every couple of hours. Some would jump every day until they could fly. It was frustrating and pretty hard to keep track of which bird went in each compartment.

Ultimately I contacted a Rehabber in the area and took most of my young to her. I was willing to make a sizeable donation to the cause to make sure the birds would be cared for and make it through the fledging process. She even had outside flight runs set up to teach them to fly.

I'm just grateful there are people out there that have the time and resources to be Rehabbers.