Intense Heat and Dying Birds

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Here in Central Texas we have had several days of 100-105 temps. My birds are suffering terribly. Two days ago I lost 2 birds to heat and returned 6 jumpers to nests. Yesterday I lost 8 birds and returned 9 to the gourds. Several more days of intense heat are predicted. I fear that I will lose most of my 100+ birds before this is over.

What can I do to help the poor birds? Many are only 6-10 days from fledging but they just cannot take the intense heat.

This is super tough for me! I dread every afternoon from 2-6 PM.
I need help prior to this afternoon to avoid additional deaths.

[Kegger]

can you possibly add shade to your settup?

[[email protected]]

Yes I could put shade cloth on the stainless perch rods above the gourds. However that’s where the adults spend most of the day. I wonder how they would respond to the cloth. Also I have the four tiered PMCA large gourds, 24 on each pole. The shade cloth would provide shade for the upper rows but the lower rows wouldn’t get much shade from 2-6 PM when the birds jump.

[scottfreidhof]

In addition to shade, maybe a large fan blowing on each gourd rack from the ground? Circulating the air around and in the gourds might be enough to pull them through - just thinking out loud. Kentucky is looking at temps in the 90's and "feels like" temperatures above 100 degrees for four days this coming week. I may try fans here. Please keep us updated on what works for you.

[G Saner]

Hello neighbor,

I am about 30 miles southwest of you. So far, I am not experiencing jumpers and dying chicks. I will be able to do a nest check tomorrow morning and foresee that I will be experiencing what you have. My colony is 5 miles from my house so I am not able to keep track of it as I would if the colony was in my backyard.

I once did an experiment using a remote thermometer that I could place in a raised gourd and read the temperature from inside my home. I found that if I sprayed the gourd with water (not a large volume), the temperature inside the gourd went down significantly. I think it was something in the range of 8-10 degrees after 30 minutes. The problem was after another 30 minutes the temperature was back to the original if the sun was shining on the gourd. If you sprayed the gourd at sunset, the temp went down and stayed down. You would need to do this about every hour but since your colony is in your backyard, it is worth a try. Be careful to spray the water above the gourd (like rain). Getting any water inside the gourd would only raise the humidity and make the matter worse.

It is too late for this year, but you might try adding pvc vents to your gourds for next season. I installed 1-inch pvc elbows at the back of each gourd neck. My experiments showed they did not lower the temperature, but I believe it lowered the humidity inside the gourd and made the air less stagnant by allowing a little air flow.

Good luck. This is not going to be a good reproductive season for our Hill Country martins due to the temperatures and lack of rainfall. The chicks could stand the heat a little better if they had more to eat.

[C.C.Martins]

The sunshades is a good idea, iv not done it though but know John and Louise put up sunshades out at Sandia. They use those corregated sign boards and attach them with big clips.
It gives them relief from the blasting sun.

2 to 6 is the worst time.

If your able to feed the jumpers and return it will go a long way. Now is a good time to train your birds for flipped food, they will take anything now...canned grasshoppers....yep they took them. I make sure my crickets are good and soggy so the chicks get some water.
Mr Barrow lives close by here, he has a platform feeder, orders 5k superworms at a time, has gone through many orders but has had jumpers and brood reduction.

Nest checks here is today, we will see.

I feel for the inland Texas landlords, bad enough here... we have an oven like sea breeze, but its a breeze.

Its a tough time,
Hope this helps,
Tom

[Sharon - Central TX]

We’re battling the same. It’s heartbreaking and so worrisome. I kept hearing a chirping yesterday that sounded so close while in the house. I went to our glass back door that goes out to our covered patio and there was a martin on the mat right in front of the door! He was able to fly some but didn’t have a lot of strength. He ended up behind some tall thick bushes where we couldn’t get to him. At least he was in the shade but I don’t know if he flew out eventually. We couldn’t find him. We helped two others that ended up on the ground but eventually were able to fly. I fear we will lose many birds this year not only from the excessive heat but we’ve had at least two hawk attacks daily the last few days.
Todays forecast is for 104 degrees

[Whippy]

I've lost half my chicks in my gourds.

The troyer horizontals are taking a beating. I put 1.5 inch vents on the lids and taped pipe insulation all around the gourds and left the aluminum backing on it to deflect the sun. Hopefully that'll work. Before doing that modification, I had at least 20 or more jumpers yesterday. All are about the same size so I looked at my nest check chart and started putting babies back in gourds and matched them all by size.

My troyer verticals are much better. No jumpers from them. I am adding vents to them as well and have put the pipe insulation on them.

My S&K BigBo + gourds are the best for heat. They have an inner and outer shell. All babies are healthy in them. No additions made to those gourds yet but I will add vents today for good measure.

The true hero in the heat is my T-14 made of 1/2 inch cedar. All cavities are as cool as can be. All babies are as healthy as can be. I've had at least 5 or 6 cavities fledge already.

I'm going to home depot in a few minutes to look for other heat deflecting ideas that are pliable or moldable to add to all my gourds for the rest of the season. If i come up with something I'll be sure to share with you.

One las thing. I made a holding cage for my jumpers and put them in the shade with a breeze on them and I put them back in the gourds in the evening when it cools off. The parents feed them for about an hour or so before they turn in for the night.

Good luck.

Coolwhips

[Martintown33]

Very sorry to hear all the heat troubles y’all are having there in Texas. Noble efforts y’all are making. Whippy, please post what you find as pliable insulation. Would be appreciated. On a side note, those Cooper’s hawks I battled with the bottle rockets, finally moved on a few weeks ago.. thanks for all your help with that.
Good luck to all the Texas landlords!!!
Rob

[Whippy]

So here's what I came up with.

1.5 inch vents:

The PVC vents are $3.79 and the pipe nuts were $0.89. I went 1/5 inches for maximum effect given the dire conditions.

[Whippy]

I found air duct insulation. Comes in a roll 15 inches wide, 2 inches thick and 15 feet long. Not pretty but, given the heat, the direct sunlight, and light winds, I had to do something. I used the aluminum tape to secure it. No jumpers yet but here's a photo of my little buddy who hung out on the porch as I worked. The adult Martins all came back and fussed for a few minutes but then began landing on the perches and the porches checking things out. If I don't get any jumpers from now until evening then I think I'll be OK going into tomorrow.

It's ugly but I almost passed out in the heat doing this. I might dress it up tomorrow.

[Martintown33]

Great job whippy! Thanks for the post… insulation Should be effective… gotta love the brave little guy on the porch!
Good luck,
Rob

[philsand]

I think I remember reading that the main problem with heat was that insects get under leaves of trees to escape the heat and the adult martins can not find food for themselves or the young. The only source of moisture for the young was the moisture in the insects.
I have never had any luck with jumpers.

[[email protected]]

Hello everyone,
Thanks for all the responses!
Here is an update. Today it hit 105 and I had 13 jumpers, two of which died. Returned the others after things cooled off. I had to spend most of the afternoon outside to see the jumpers and put them in a safe place.
I have learned this. The jumpers may not be jumpers at all. The clutch comes out on the outside porch to escape the extreme heat inside. With all the bustling on the porch most are just pushed off. I saw a mamma land and knock one of her chicks off.

I received many suggestions.
In summary here are the suggestions.
1) install shades
2) place insulating/reflective material on each gourd
3) place a large fan on the ground, pointed up, for each gourd assembly
4) spray water, like rainfall, from above on each gourd assembly approx every 1/2 hour.
5) install misters on the gourds

So I don't know which idea was best but I decided to install misters. The shades could well work. But I just didn't know how the adults would receive them and my perching rods really do not provide enough structure to shade the gourds properly. The reflective/insulating material may work well too. However; I did not see the suggestion until I had installed the misters. The fan idea would work but it is very expensive. Three large shop fans at $300+ is a lot. Going out and spraying the gourds would help but I would have to live outside in the heat.
One responder indicated that he had measured a temporary 10 degree drop when the gourds were sprayed with water.
I knew that misters can provide up to 20 degrees cooling effect. So I went to the hardware store and bought 3 misters for approx $50 each, still pretty expensive. It took me awhile to install them.
I tested them about 7:30 when things were beginning to cool off a little. I actuate all three misters with one valve. I think they will work well and cool off the gourds and the birds inside. The only problem I saw was that the adults didn't like the mist spraying on them. They would fly off and then come back repeatedly. So I turned the misters off. Tomorrow starting about noon I will intermittently turn on the mister to cool the gourds and hopefully condition the adults to the mist. Potentially could leave them on during afternoon hours all the time if the adults adjust. Worst case I will have to turn on the misters every 30 minutes for 5-10 minutes then turn off until the heat breaks or the birds launch.

So we will see how this works. I will report back in a day or two.

Thanks for all the help!
Dan

[white-out]

If you search FleaBay for: Mini 2507 Brushless Fan DC 5V-9V 6V 12000RPM Quiet Large Air Volume Cooling Fan

Could these be mounted in a PVC elbow wired to a centrally located solar dc battery? Mount the elbow in the rear of the gourd and pull the air out.

Sad to hear and I'm sure it's very taxing to all of you! GOOD LUCK!

[Whippy]

You make a great point of the babies falling off the porches. Sure go ahead and apply cooling techniques but I’m also going to find a way to put larger porches on my gourds. I’ll post the results when done.

Coolwhips.

[RAMSMARTINS]

Another of several reasons to go porchless on your housing......

[G Saner]

Good decision on going with the misters. They will keep the general area around the gourds cooler and any water that falls on the gourds should reduce the interior temperature also. Much easier to turn a single valve for 3 poles than to stand there with a garden hose.

My nest check this morning found no dead babies in the gourds but two dead on the ground. Around 30 had left the nest so far but I can not tell how many fledged and how many fell and died. I would assume around one third didn't make it. The nests that were empty were scheduled to fledge. The residents of the Assisted Living Center did not report seeing any jumpers and they watch "their" birds pretty close. My guess is that we had about a dozen jumpers that they didn't see. My SuperGourds do not have porches.

As I was leaving, one baby was on the ground. When I went to catch it, it took off, gained altitude and flew to the trees along the river about 100 yards away. This highlights one of the advantages to having a colony in an open field. Our prior small suburban yard had a six foot fence. If the baby fell, it could never find enough space to get off the ground.

Also, while I was there, I observed the colony mobbing what appeared to be a Turkey Vulture (all black). When it got a little closer, I could see that the tail had a white band. When I got home, I found it to be a Zone-Tailed Hawk. Amazing how the martins are able to identify a predator even if it looks so similar to a bird that is not a danger.

[C.C.Martins]

G Saner,
Glad most of your birds made it, its especially hard inland. Yes, agree that fenced yards would prove difficult for a young bird and adults trying to encourage them to fly. Found one jumper on my fence once, couldnt get flight clearance. I wouldn't have found him but for the adults trying to get it airborne.
I'm sure the residents watch close and your numbers are spot on. Sorry for the losses but considering the conditions....could be worse i am afraid.

Tom

[Whippy]

It seems my modifications worked for today. The insulation kept the sun off of them all day plus the winds picked up and appeared to allow the oversized vents to work. I lowered the gourds to check on things and all babies were inside their gourds and alert. The parents have accepted whatever baby is in their gourds and are feeding them.

Hopefully tomorrow will be the same.

Coolwhips