Don't know what to do

J Getting · Tue Jun 23, 2015 5:27 pm

I have a round gourd rack with 16 gourds on it. Of those 16 gourds, 10 have martins with eggs and babies in them. One gourd has a sparrow nest in it. The last 3 nest check I shook the eggs thinking the eggs wouldn't hatch. Well, some eggs have hatched, so do I leave them alone so the adults don't attack the Martin babies and eggs, or do I get rid of them?

avesrun · Tue Jun 23, 2015 5:37 pm

Can you trap them inside the gourd? Make a hole reducer and clamp it on over the entrance and stick a glue trap inside the entrance. If shooting is an option that would be my first choice.
TimG

Greg Borke MO · Tue Jun 23, 2015 5:40 pm

I would put a glue trap in the nest .. cut a small piece of the glue trap and place it near the eggs were it will cling to the sparrow this should do the trick.
Good Luck!!

Gary W · Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:13 pm

Don't use a glue trap, unless you make the entrance to the compartment smaller so a Martin cannot get in!

KathyF · Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:25 am

J -how many hatched? If they are still new hatchlings (not crawling around), you can put them in this trap, all the way to the back, and reduce the nest cavity entrance hole to 1.5" so that martins don't go into the trap.
I use this trap a lot:
http://shop.purplemartin.org/Universal_ ... tails.aspx

If it were me, I would reduce their brood to about 2 kids too...the bird enthusiasts tell us that birds can't count, and from moving martins around, I think that's true.
Once you trap one of the adults in the trap, put him/her in a repeating trap, then reset the trap with your baby bird 'bait' again, back in the nest to get the other parent.