Horrible End

[cabin man]

My martins were due to fledge this past Monday. It poured most of the day so I expected them to fledge on Tuesday. I saw them hanging out both Monday and Tuesday and everything looked fine. Yesterday. I only noticed one sticking his head out, and he eventually fledged. I saw him flying around and even landed in a tree close to the gourd rack . I didn't see the other birds and sensed something was wrong, but I was afraid to lower the rack. I know I'm a worry wart sometime so I figured everything would be OK. Last night, I had to go out and wasn't able to watch the Young bird come back home. This morning I looked out and saw a bird trapped in the entrance. And not moving. I lowered the rack and was horrified. The bird that had fledged had died in the entrance and the other three were dead inside the gourd.I almost cried. I did not have wing entrapment on the Conley 2 entrances. I thought about putting them on, but didn't want to upset the apple cart. Can you believe it! One pair, one bird that fledged, and he got caught and died. I think the other three died from hypothermia. The nest was wet from all that rain and we had 59° Wednesday morning. I also saw a you d male house sparrow on their rack.I am heartbroken and quite embarrassed to report this to you all, but I had to. I removed them all from the gourd and took out the wet material. The parents were still flying around when I got home from work. I feel such a loss.

[C.C.Martins]

cabin man, terribly sorry for that loss. sounds like a combination of an inexperienced Martin and the poor weather. If we were able to watch 24/7 there would be less problems. you did what you could.
Tom

[csmibert]

My martins were due to fledge this past Monday. It poured most of the day so I expected them to fledge on Tuesday. I saw them hanging out both Monday and Tuesday and everything looked fine. Yesterday. I only noticed one sticking his head out, and he eventually fledged. I saw him flying around and even landed in a tree close to the gourd rack . I didn't see the other birds and sensed something was wrong, but I was afraid to lower the rack. I know I'm a worry wart sometime so I figured everything would be OK. Last night, I had to go out and wasn't able to watch the Young bird come back home. This morning I looked out and saw a bird trapped in the entrance. And not moving. I lowered the rack and was horrified. The bird that had fledged had died in the entrance and the other three were dead inside the gourd.I almost cried. I did not have wing entrapment on the Conley 2 entrances. I thought about putting them on, but didn't want to upset the apple cart. Can you believe it! One pair, one bird that fledged, and he got caught and died. I think the other three died from hypothermia. The nest was wet from all that rain and we had 59° Wednesday morning. I also saw a you d male house sparrow on their rack.I am heartbroken and quite embarrassed to report this to you all, but I had to. I removed them all from the gourd and took out the wet material. The parents were still flying around when I got home from work. I feel such a loss.

So sorry, it would have been devastating, especially when they were you only babies. Next year can only be better, and we now know the importance of installing wing
entrapments. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[ToyinPA]

My martins were due to fledge this past Monday. It poured most of the day so I expected them to fledge on Tuesday. I saw them hanging out both Monday and Tuesday and everything looked fine. Yesterday. I only noticed one sticking his head out, and he eventually fledged. I saw him flying around and even landed in a tree close to the gourd rack . I didn't see the other birds and sensed something was wrong, but I was afraid to lower the rack. I know I'm a worry wart sometime so I figured everything would be OK. Last night, I had to go out and wasn't able to watch the Young bird come back home. This morning I looked out and saw a bird trapped in the entrance. And not moving. I lowered the rack and was horrified. The bird that had fledged had died in the entrance and the other three were dead inside the gourd.I almost cried. I did not have wing entrapment on the Conley 2 entrances. I thought about putting them on, but didn't want to upset the apple cart. Can you believe it! One pair, one bird that fledged, and he got caught and died. I think the other three died from hypothermia. The nest was wet from all that rain and we had 59° Wednesday morning. I also saw a you d male house sparrow on their rack.I am heartbroken and quite embarrassed to report this to you all, but I had to. I removed them all from the gourd and took out the wet material. The parents were still flying around when I got home from work. I feel such a loss.

Sorry for your loss :(. It happens & we learn as we go. Do the upgrades needed & you'll be ready to go next year.

I would re-nest the cavity they were in so the parents can go in & spend the night if they chose too. Let your housing up into late September, early October in case any need a place to stop over on their way south.

I would suggest you train your Martins to take supplemental food. Crickets or meal worms. The best time is in spring when they first return, especially on bad weather days. Under bad weather conditions, snow, rain, wind, temps below 50, high temps, etc., they can't find food. It can really help keep them going & healthy. It will also help them feed chicks on bad weather days. You can train via flipping or platform. There's lots of info on the forum about it.

Parents slow down or stop feeding chicks when they want them to fledge. Even tho this is a natural process for them it can lead to dehydration & death of the chicks. Chicks can fledge too soon, due to hunger, & often end up on the ground unable to fly. Usually once on the ground parents won't feed them & they die.

A wet nest, as you know, is not good. You can rig up a long pole with a pool noodle attached to the end to block the hole, lower your rack & do nest checks. Others here, that have gourds, have posted how they do this. The more nest checks you do the more they get used to the house/rack coming down. Nest checks are very important to catch issues that crop up. I do checks every 2 days, often every day, once hatching begins. It does get a little harder the closer they are to fledge, but it can be done. Also watch your housing for flies & bees buzzing around the entrances. It can be a sign there is a dead chick inside.

I'd also figure out why the nest was so wet. Could be your gourds are leaking & need sealed, a different cap, etc. I'm sure if you do a search here, or post & ask someone that has gourds, they can help you figure it out.

The northeast got hammered with rain & cold temps this season & we had many losses of eggs & chicks, so don't beat yourself up. We can't fight Mother Nature. We can try, but She is in control. Make whatever upgrades to your housing you can to make things better & you'll be good to go next season.

The forum posts have slowed way down, but hopefully someone with gourds will reply. If not post again in late winter/early spring.

Best wishes,
Toy in PA

[handyman315]

As another first-year landlord I feel your loss very sincerely, not to mention that I've followed your many-year effort to start a PM colony - which IMO you have done. I also applaud your courage to report exactly what happened; your report and the comments you are already receiving (and will receive) provide a service to ALL PM landlords.

Know that what happened to you could happen (and probably does) to all of us, e.g., one of my nesting pairs failed at the egg stage, either because of infertile eggs or inexperienced parents. Had it been my ONLY pair, my first-year colony would also have "failed".

Very much agree, do not beat yourself up. It's very likely there might have been NOTHING you could have done to have prevented this, i.e., it happens.

The most concerning thing I've read (so far) is the wet nest issue. I have 16 gourds, and none ever got wet, certainly never soaked - and I checked - after several wicked rainstorms in my area. Admittedly, I use the S&K Clinger Tunnels (entrances), which serve the dual purpose of providing an elongated entrance - putting nests away from inclement weather. Something must be wrong with your gourds, in general, they should not be getting much more wet than what the birds track in. For the 2018 season, at the least, maybe you can face openings away from the SW (or the most likely direction of your rain storms).

[cabin man]

Thank you all for your replies. I just sensed that something was wrong, but was afraid to do it next check when they were 26 days old. I have read about closing the entrances and lowering it but I didn't do it. Once again, I was nervous being a first-time landlord. As far as the nest being so wet, my gourd faces north east and we had a hard north East wind with the rain. Also, the birds were hanging out and they may have tracked in some of the moisture. I don't know. It is never happened before to me, either. The nests have always been dry. I will add wing entrapment guards and\or change all the tunnels to the newer ones. I never thought about adding more nesting material in their gourd in case the parents want to come back. Thanks.I will do that now. I am heartbroken and feel like I let the parents down. I wasn't able to care for their babies like I should have. It's a horrible feeling. I tried so hard, but really messed up right at the end.

[taxidermy lady]

Rob my heart breaks for you! Bless you for your loss! I think the martins are smart enough to know that they fledged the one. That's all it takes for success! Even if it didn't make it I believe they know it's not your fault! I have thought a lot of times I messed up but no we did not. We get so anxious when they are here. We try so hard to do it right and when something goes wrong we think we did something wrong. You didn't do anything wrong! We are dealing with one pair. This isn't like having a colony of 20. This is a delicate situation for a new landlord! Most likely the parents have never experienced a nest check, eggshells, owl guards, etc. All that is weird to them! I let mine be! It was my choice and I only brought the house down 4 times! So this could have happened to me! It was meant to happen. It keeps us on our toes! You'll take the actions to better your site for next year and they will be back because you didn't do anything wrong and they know it! We are all here for you and appreciate your time and love for our beautiful birdies!
Mine all fledged and I pray everyday they'll return next year. Good luck

[Dan G]

That's too bad. It must be devastating. The good news is that your site is suitable and hopefully you will get another chance next year.

[cabin man]

Thank Sharon for the kind words. I'm feeling a little better today but I still feel bad. I can't believe I was so high for so long, and came crashing down to this end. But, I will continue to try to do better. I hope they come back. I don't know. Dan, thanks for the encouragement as well. Apparently cutting all the trees did make my site more appealing so even if they don't come back I will try diligently again in the spring. Thank you all so much for caring.

[ToyinPA]

Thank Sharon for the kind words. I'm feeling a little better today but I still feel bad. I can't believe I was so high for so long, and came crashing down to this end. But, I will continue to try to do better. I hope they come back. I don't know. Dan, thanks for the encouragement as well. Apparently cutting all the trees did make my site more appealing so even if they don't come back I will try diligently again in the spring. Thank you all so much for caring.

Cabin Man:

I would guess the male will be back, perhaps the female too. They may bring along friends . Once they chose a site they usually return the following year. Do what you need to make your housing better & they will appreciate it.

The fledged chicks don't usually return to the same site. So even tho you may have had 4 fledge it doesn't mean those 4 would return to your site next year. The survival rate is something like 40% of all fledged. So even tho there are hundreds of thousands fledged each year 60% never survive migration.

I've had martins for 20 years now & this year was my worst ever. If you read any of my posts you'd see that I had major losses as well. It happens. I've lost chicks due to fledge in the past too. They get sick & suddenly die or they fledge too soon & end up on the ground some place or there is a major lack of food & they starve. It happens. We all learn as we go & do what we can to try to make things better for the next season. We are giving them artificial housing so they can nest. Supplemental feeding to keep them going during bad weather, etc. Mother Nature is in control of the rest.

Best wishes,
Toy in PA

[cabin man]

Thanks Toy. I'm hoping they come back. Sometimes I'm a little too hard on myself. I will make the changes for next year, and try to be more diligent with my nest checks. Even when it gets towards the end. Thanks again for your kind words. I have been reading your posts and agree with you. Mother nature can be tough sometimes. Rob

[pmartinlover2]

Sorry this happened to you, Rob! I know how you feel as I had something similiar happen to me my first year. I had a nest with 5 eggs and found a dead ASY female in the nest. I was so distraught thinking the eggs were lost. Next nest check I felt the eggs and they were warm so as it ends up the dead female was just visiting to keep warm and somehow died. The eggs all hatched and fledged.
So what do we use for wing entrapment devices for Conley and excluder II entrances? I don't have any on mine either, just the crescents. Would be interested to know?
Hope you have a much better second season Rob!
_____
Jody

[cabin man]

Jody. Thanks for your post. It's amazing how much anxiety goes with the first pair. So much is riding on them succeeding. We just try our best, and keep moving forward. I hope I have a second year. Time will tell. I believe they make guards to go on the conley 2 entrances. I will look into it, and if not, I will buy all new tunnels with wing entrapment guards That was a horrible thing to see. Hope it never happens again! Rob

[taxidermy lady]

The ultimate clinger tunnel has wing entrapment built in! S&k manufacturing sells them! These are nice because no modifications needed. link not allowed/Ultimate-Clinger ... tinfo/utc/
It says link not allowed but I've seen it on here before. Just google it Rob and Jody!

[cabin man]

Thanks Sharon!

[dubluv]

just a comparison between the the S & K Bo11 gourd with tunnel and the troyer vertical with conley and tunnel. there's no comparison. my first year I bought 6 Bo11 gourds. they seemed pretty good, but after building a T14, I wanted to add some gourds to it, and just needed 4. I decided to spend a little more and get the new Troyer vertical that comes with the tunnels. all i can say is, for a few bucks more, its just so much better. the two halves are glued together, which makes a better water seal, IMHO. also, you can see how much care and thought Troyer puts into his gourds. from the ridged traction tread to the ribs on top of the tunnel for martins to perch easier, and finally, the entire gourd is much thicker and the inspection port has a screw cap, instead of the pop off on the S&K. some will consider price alone, but at about $21 each with shipping, its no comparison. the bo11 does cost less, even with their tunnel, but you get what you pay for.

[cabin man]

Hi Steve. Thanks for your comment. I have quite a few of the Troyes gourds . I bought them a while ago, so I'm not sure if they have wing entrapment already built inside or not. I will check before I place an order. If they don't, I hope that I can buy small attachments to add to them so that I don't have to buy all new gourds . I've seen things like that in the past. The Gourd that the Martin's chose this year, was not a Troyer. It was an S&K that I modified and put a tunnel entrance on. I'm pretty sure that the Troyer gourds do not have when entrapment on them, as I've had them for many years. Still can't believe it happened and I am kicking myself every day. Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts. Rob

[PMTOM]

Reading your story brought a tear to my eye, I am terribly sorry to hear this!!

[marcus]

Troyer necks all have wing entrapment protectors. Terribly sorry for the loss. Hopefully the parents return and bring some friends!

[Matt F.]

Hi Rob,
So sorry about what happened.
Like Marcus mentioned, the Troyer gourds available for the past few years (I believe all the Conley II variants) have entrapment protectors.
The early Troyer horizontals (crescents and the WDC Modified Excluder equipped) did not.
I noticed you have an assortment of various kinds of gourds - Supergourds, Excluder gourds, Naturelines, Troyers, etc.
Of course the Supergourds, Excluder gourds, and Naturelines do not come with entrapment protectors.
You mentioned the mishap took place in an S&K gourd?