Are boiled eggs bad for martins ?

[CraigMo.]

I fed my martins boiled eggs today and they loved them. There is a link here that says to scramble the eggs. Are boiled eggs harmful to martins? My martins ate the white and yellow of the boiled egg. If boiled eggs are okay this is the lazy way to go. Way easier than scrambling.
Thanks Craig

[Louise Chambers]

Boiled eggs are fine - I heard from one landlord who hardboils them in the shell, then mashes the whole egg up, shell and all - and his martins like them that way.

[CraigMo.]

Thanks Louise

[Darryl Sparlin]

Craig,
How did you feed the eggs? It looks like my martins may be
be in for a hard time for the next 5-7 days. It warmed up enough
here today that I think they were able to feed. The forecast does not sound
good at all. calling for rain,snow, wintry mix late Thursday into Friday and
the temps not getting above 40 deg until first of next week. I have a platform feeder right close to the houses that I feed eggshells out of, and the martins use it regularly during the breeding season. I guess I will try and put some boiled eggs out there and see if they will eat them. If they don't I can't see them surviving this weather to come. I had 12 come in to roost the past 3-4 nights. I sure hope they can make it. Best wishes to you and your martins this year.

[Dave Reynolds]

Craig -- How did you feed them the boiled eggs, chopped up on a feeding tray or hand tossed?

Dave

[CraigMo.]

Darryl and Dave
I trained my pms to take crickets from me by flipping them with a plastic spoon. I tried eggs once before but they did not take them. I tried again today and they loved them. I imagine my next step is to train them to feed off a feeding tray which I do not know how to do that. When I do this I will have to post for help.
Darryl I am like you at one time. I could feed my martins egg shells off ground when it was breeding season only. My guess is for you to try that with maybe egg shells and eggs on your tray like you said. Yes the forecast is terrible for Missouri, hopefully it will change. I to worry if the martins will make it. I believe the next time I lower my rack I will find 1 male that I have not seen since this morning dead. I also wonder if even feeding the pm will help on a long cold stretch. I am sure it helps just don't know what effect the cold has on these birds.
Good luck to both of you and keep us posted.

Oops Dave I sliced the eggs up with a egg slicer in one direction and then the other direction and flipped them in the air . Some people put the eggs on their rooftops I have read. The size of the eggs were like the size of relished pickles if that helps. I also flipped some bigger slices and they had no problem with them either. They really loved the eggs or were really hungry.

Craig

[Jeff Robinson]

Craig,
Way to go on your success with the eggs! I'll be following your lead and trying eggs this evening. Wish you the best thru this rough stretch.

Same goes for you Darryl, and others in the path of tomorrow's winter storm. Calling for my area to get 5" - 7" (possibly up to 9") inches of that white stuff tomorrow morning thru tomorrow night. It wouldn't bother me so much since I'm supplemental feeding now, except that I'll be at work all day and they'll get snowed into otheir holes until I get home tomorrow evening. Maybe they'll instinctively move to south facing cavities as the stuff piles up.

Jeff[/quote]

[CraigMo.]

Thanks Jeff .
They all 4 fed this morning so I guess the one male did not die. It was stinking25 degrees out there and my flipping finger was freezing. My hand hadn't been that aching cold in a long time. Hopefully that white stuff will be a false alarm

[Louise Chambers]

We transitioned from flipping to feeding at the PMCA site by putting up an elevated feeding platform (in our case a bed & breakfast feeder, but it could be anything - a cake pan up on a tall post, but you will need to be able to add more food. Could use a cup fastened to a long pole to dump more food, but also need to be able to clean the feeder.) We put live mealworms, which our martins loved, into the feeder trays. A perch above the feeder trays helped, as the martins could perch and look at the mealworms. We flipped some mealworms up in the air next to the feeder, trying to make sure some fell into the trays - and that worked.

If anyone feeds by tossing food, you should be able to transition to a feeder. Also see John Miller's post on compartment feeding - this may be the simplest way of all to feed/make a transition from tossing food.

[Jeff Robinson]

Yeah Craig, I learned the hard way about flipping with bare fingers when I flipped hundreds that day to get them started. I now wear a thinner pair of gloves on my flipping finger. Great to hear all 4 were there for you this morning. I'm anxious to get home this evening to provide enough to help them make it thru tomorrow's snowstorm...and if nothing else, place enough crickets in their holes as John recommends.

Thanks Louise!

Jeff

[jmeyer]

I guess you can say I am lucky as my birds haven't arrived in Columbia yet. Hopefully they wait until Easter.