Here Comes The Sun!

[Steve Kroenke]

I have been singing that old Beatles' song, "Here Comes The Sun" for about an hour! Finally after days of cold miserable cloudy weather/temperatures, the beautiful sun returned and the temperatures are on the rise! I was beginning to think the sun was gone forever!

The warm sunshine will activate many flying insects and the martins will have plenty to eat today. The martins quickly left their housing and are now no doubt filling their bellies!

We probably have around 200 martins in our two colonies at this time and some may be migrants that were staying here during the cold spell. With the favorable weather here, I suspect that these migrants will probably be heading north now.

The winds will be changing from the north to the south and this usually means more martins will be returning to our area. March is the main month for ASY martins to return to our colonies.

My large order of crickets is supposed to arrive tomorrow but I won't need them at this time. I will freeze the crickets and they will be available should another prolonged cold spell invade our area. I do have a question for folks who freeze crickets. How long will crickets "remain good" in a frozen state? If I didn't need to use any for this season, would they still be a viable food source next year? Thanks for any feedback.

Steve

[Connie]

Steve,
I am down near Baton Rouge. We are surely not getting any of that sunshine you are singing about! Do you think if I sing I could get some too?

[Doug Martin - PA]

Hi Steve

Glad your Martins are getting a good day to feed.

Crickets will supposedly last a year in the freezer. It is important to provide a heavy paper bag as a cover. Or wrap them in newspaper first even, then a paperbag afterward. Of course they will be in a plastic zip lock bag too. The paper seems to prevent freezer frost.

I have never kept them till the following season however. Seems they always find a mouth to feed and I need more than I order.

Good luck down there.

Doug

[chickadee]

Wow Steve that is a large colonies and amount of birds to feed. Hats off to you. Hope the sun comes out for you and you have a good season. And I have heard they will be good. But I have never used them a year later. Mealworms I have.

[baileysambone]

Steve,
I'm with Connie. I'm not getting any sun shine here either.
I've kept my crickets for 2 years. I tripple bag them in freezer bags, and I used the ones I bought in 2012 last year.
Yvonne

[Connie]

Yvonne,
Isn't this the craziest weather ever for us? Saturday I rode in the Spanish Town Parade; it was in the upper 70's right? The next day there is ice hanging from the trees!!
I never did understand how people could live up North with gray skies and snow and slush and mud. I have been depressed all winter. But, of course they can't understand how we live down here with the heat, humidity and hurricanes and mosquitoes as big as horse flies!!
I truly wish singing about the sunshine would bring it on...lol.... but I don't think it is going to happen today....well, there's always tomorrow!!

[Steve Kroenke]

I really appreciate the feedback! Doug, I didn't know about the paper bag cover so this information is most helpful. I will be putting them in plastic freezer bags and then using the paper bag.

Connie/Yvonne,

I can't tell you how good it felt to see all that nasty gray mess finally move on and be replaced with bluebird skies and that big ole' smiling sun! It is still cool, but the temperatures should be in the mid 50s today and that is a big improvement over what we have had. Y'all should be getting some sunshine soon, too.

I don't see how folks live up north with all that cold, ice, snow and endless days of winter. I guess if you have lived there all your life then you adapt.

I was born and raised in the Deep South and I can sweat better than I can shake! I'll take our heat and humidity any day over zero temps and blizzards!

Chickadee,

All this sunshine is going to my head I think! I haven't seen the sun in so long!

Meal worms are good food for martins, too and I have a friend in Dallas who feeds his martins meal worms if necessary. He even has small bowls he places inside the house cavities and puts the meal worms in the bowls.

Steve

[taxidermy lady]

Yeah Connie,
I am in southern Il. About 50 miles south of St. Louis and the temperature changed here one day from 70 degrees to wind chills below zero that night. I think anywhere you live there always weather and bugs (need these for our martins). I actually put a house up today with snow on the ground. I just couldn't stand that empty yard anymore. I had to dig through the snow to find my ground sleeve. Have all holes plugged so those pesky sparrows will stay out. I am so anxious March15 is our date? Wish you a great year.

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

Hi Steve.

Finally some nice weather for us here in SE Kansas today. Into the 60's tomorrow. I put up my two houses and four gourds on my MP pole today. It is time for the first scouts to arrive in Kansas. Maybe you have been hosting some of them the past few days. Lady down the street has a martin/sparrow colony and says hers usually return March 15th. She hasn't put up her housing yet. If hers return next week, they will find housing at my site.

I had to supplemental feed each year I had a colony in Hot Springs. I put 150 crickets in a plastic bag and then put that bag in a freezer bag. I used crickets the year I ordered them and also the following year.

Tim

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Tim,

Yes, it is about time we all got some nice weather after what many of us have been through!

I sure hope you get a nice martin colony started this year at your new home. Since there is a nearby colony, then that should increase your chances of attracting martins.

Though most of our martins did survive these cold spells, the martins were definitely stressed. I ordered several thousand crickets and I will be prepared if we get another bad weather situation. We really haven't had a need to feed the martins in the past as the cold spells rarely lasted long.

Please keep us posted about your new colony site.

Steve

[ljd-kc]

Steve,

I have used crickets that had been in the freezer for slightly over two years and the martins took them readily. Can't say for sure what nutritional loss was incurred though. I believe that crickets stored in a freezer that is NOT frost free would be better than those crickets stored in a frost free freezer.

Jack

[M.Stephens]

Steve,
I fed my martins crickets yesterday evening. First time ever. It took a while for them to catch on but when they did it was really cool. I bought mine at a bait shop. I may purchase some on line this year because of the exceptionally cold winter.

I have kept crickets in the freezer from one year to the next.

I currently have 50 to 60 martins at my site.

[Ed Pace]

Steve: Before I was able to get birds at home I rehabed many babbies and very young birds from several landlords that had freez-outs. I did this for many years, untill they learned to supplamentl feed their birds. I still get a few but not like in the past. I bought them in large amounts and would keep my crickets for aweek and let them breed,give them trays to lay their eggs in and then freeze the adults. For several years I just kept them reporducing, winter and summer,(lots of work,fun at first). What I wanted to say was I kept them for more than a couple of years in the frezeer with good results. The trick is the type of freezer. A self defrost will not keep them nearly as long as a no defrost freezer will. I gess probaly everyone knows that just thaught I would mention it. Good luck with your weather. Ed.

[Steve Kroenke]

Jack,

Thanks for that information about the freezer and time frame! My crickets will arrive today some time. It is good to know that the crickets may last as long as two years.

Steve

Malcom,

We have a local bait shop but I didn't check with them. I decided to go with reptilefoods on the Internet.

Since I have never fed my martins before, it will probably be a learning process for the martins and me. Plus we have so many martins now.

Last evening it seemed more martins arrived at roosting time and there was a lot of fighting.

Thanks for confirming you have kept crickets in the freezer from one year to the next.

Steve

Ed,

Thanks for all the good information about crickets! It looks like you had a "cricket colony"!

Since we occasionally get martin nestlings that "jump" and these may be undernourished, I plan to also use the crickets to feed these youngsters for a short time and the place them back in their nests.

And thanks for confirming that crickets can be kept for several years in a freezer.

Steve

[Matt@atx]

Hi Steve,

Yes, the sun did come out bringing the temps to 62-63 degrees which was good to see.

Thank you for the valuable feeding information about how sun light will activate bug activity so we might have an idea if the birds could find food earlier this week. I think our regions are almost equal in temps most of the time accept you guys are blessed with much more rain.... atleast last year.

I went over to the site on Tues and Wed morning to leave food on the porches but it was not at 25 per bird as needed with the count at 12 on site presently. Let me say that buying crickets at Pet Smart at $.12 a crickett is "expensive".
My crickets should also arrive from reptile foods today. I hope to see them Sat and discover that all are ok.
Thank you for your always helpful information