Feeding in North GA

[1 Ron Vasser]

Sleet, snow, wind and cold martins today. I fed 3 times today, 1200 meal worms and 8 eggs. Weather says I'll be feeding tomorrow. Watch your birds folks, they need more food in the cold. I was happy to watch them wipe their beaks and go inside tonight. I have around 40 martins here and they let me know when I walk down the drive that it's time to eat!

[DebA]

Ron, you are where I wish to be! Not so much Georgia...but with that amount of martins and being able to interact with them and know what they want. Good job providing meals!

I used to live in Savannah and Georgia is lovely. Except those paper mills. Whew!

Deb

[Robbo]

Ron do you feed from an elevatedfeeder or what do you do?

[Harold Green]

I don't have as many martins as you do Ron, but they are starving to death. I tried to feed them but they will not accept anything. It's bad to have to sit here and watch them die. Don't look like the weather will warm up till about Tuesday. Any suggestions .

[Louise Chambers]

Harold, have you tried putting dead crickets on porches & right inside entrances? that worked for us one year when weather was very bad and our returned martin would not take flipped food. How many birds do you have back now? They can feed in upper 40s, even lower 40s if it's not windy, and helps even more if it's sunny.

You can close extra gourds, leaving only enough open for the birds you have, to make feeding more targeted. we've put handwarmers inside gourds about 3 pm, the 24 hour kind.

[Harold Green]

I have about 12 at present time. The weather is in upper forties today but the wind is blowing ten to fifteen mph now. They are getting very weak, and sometimes land on the ground to rest before flying off.if they can last one more day, the weather is supposed to warm up and wind quit blowing. I can't get any meal worms before tomorrow, but have put some scrambled eggs inside of gourds. See what happens now.

[1 Ron Vasser]

Ron do you feed from an elevatedfeeder or what do you do?

No I don't use feeding platforms. I prepare my eggs and scatter them on the drive as I walk down to the last T-14. I start flipping meal worms two at a time and feed about 600 Then walking back to the house I throw up spoons full of the remaining eggs as the martins follow. I think tossing the eggs and letting the martins catch them close to the drive is how they learned to eat off the drive. I think these pictures were taken a couple of years back. I enjoy them enough that I don't mind doing this 2-3 times a day.

I don't have as many martins as you do Ron, but they are starving to death. I tried to feed them but they will not accept anything. It's bad to have to sit here and watch them die. Don't look like the weather will warm up till about Tuesday. Any suggestions .

Harold...I started by going out after a day when they didn't leave to feed and were just sitting out in the cold. I went to the bait shop and bought crickets. I positioned where the wind would blow the crickets toward the martins and started flipping with a plastic spoon. On about the 8th flip a martin left the house and caught the cricket. From that point I learned to flip better, put the crickets in the fridge so they were easier to handle, learned that meal-worms are a lot cheaper and easier to flip and to work the eggs in to the process in case my meal-worm farm gets low. I think the secret is getting that first martin to leave the house and catch and the rest will follow. The martins that live here know I provide. My wife can walk down the drive and the martins sit and look at her but when I go out they swarm me. I know that sounds like a crock but it is the truth.
I would suggest you go out several times a day and be persistent and hope for the best. Good luck.

Feeding in the air


Feeding off the drive

[Siberman]

Ron: what a pretty place y'all have there .

[1 Ron Vasser]

I have about 12 at present time. The weather is in upper forties today but the wind is blowing ten to fifteen mph now. They are getting very weak, and sometimes land on the ground to rest before flying off.if they can last one more day, the weather is supposed to warm up and wind quit blowing. I can't get any meal worms before tomorrow, but have put some scrambled eggs inside of gourds. See what happens now.

Harold I posted before I saw this post.
You don't have to wait on the worms. This is just what works for me. Take a large non stick skillet on low heat and pour in a couple of well beaten eggs. Let them cook slow and almost all the way done and shake the pan until you slide the eggs to the edge, take hold and turn them over for just a few seconds. Slide them on to a cutting board and quarter. Stack the quarters and slice 1/8" strips, turn the board and slice every 1/2". Put them is a bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of warm water and stir. You can flip a few sections at a time and they'll learn to take them on the ground. Good luck!

[Doug Martin - PA]

Ron,

Good job getting them to feed. The less frequently the climate turns bad the tougher it is to teach them to feed. Your persistence is the key. It's not easy at first but is very easy once just one Martin begins.

Sometimes it takes a passerby migrating through to teach the others. That's what i was fortunate to have to start mine off years ago. So for those that keep at it... it only takes one bird to get the others started.

Then it is second nature to them. You save a lot of Martins this way. Not just the adults but their potential offspring as well.

Great job.

Doug

[John Barrow]

Harold,
If you're martins are going down to the ground, try putting crickets on the ground where they are landing--much like Ron does on his driveway. When I hosted and fed martins in Port O'Connor many would eat off of the street in front of my house. Fortunately, it was a cul-de-sac with little traffic and I had a clear view of any predators, such as cats, etc.

The martins are not going to the ground to rest, they more likely are desparate for food, ants, anything. If you can get them to eat from the ground, moving up to a feeding tray should be easier.

Thanks for what you are doing, and, as always, thank you Ron Vasser for being an outstanding, all around, landlord.

Best wishes to all who work for the martins.

[Harold Green]

I put some scrambled eggs in the gourds yesterday and that has helped some. Today will be in the upper fifties. So hope they can feed some.

John--they were going to the ground because they were so weak they couldn't fly very far at a time.
I could walk up close enough to them to almost pick them up.
Hope everything gets better today, but its supposed to rain again tomorrow

[Louise Chambers]

That is a rough situation, Harold - they should be able to feed today since it's so much warmer. Check your housing to make sure there are no weak or dead martins inside. Go ahead and get some mealworms if you can, or crickets too (we use reptilefoods.com and buy several boxes of 1000 each to save on shipping, and freeze them)

Usually they will not eat eggs right off the bat, but it's good to try, as you are doing. I hope your birds do okay.

[Harold Green]

The birds are out feeding or gone somewhere today, so hope this will keep them alive.
I have found only two dead so far, one was in a gourd and the other on my back patio.
I have had martins for the last twelve or thirteen years and this is the first time I've ever encountered a situation like this.