Saved 7 Martins!

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brucet
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 8:53 pm
Location: League City/Texas

I found seven martins huddled on my patio this morning, unable to fly. I started warming them up with a heater and then moved them to a box to try and get them to eat. At first, they would not eat dried or live crickets. After an hour, the first martin tried eating one of the live crickets and the others soon followed. They have not eaten about 70 crickets. It's still going to be cold tonight, so I was going to wait until morning to release them. Will feed them another round of live crickets in the morning. Also, they did start to eat some of the dried crickets and mealworms but definitely prefer the live ones. Unfortunately, we lost close to a dozen martins from this latest cold snap in Houston.
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brent
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2018 2:43 pm
Location: Raceland, Louisiana

You just want to hold them. Wishing the best for those beautiful birds. Keep us updated on their progress. Brent
Brent
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Thomas Maddox
Posts: 438
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:23 pm
Location: Sulphur, Louisiana

Thank you! Job well done! Not as fortunate here.
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C.C.Martins
Posts: 3177
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:15 am
Location: Corpus Christi Tx
Martin Colony History: 2016- Visitors.
2017- 5 pair. 15 fledged
2018- 18 pair. 85 fledged
2019- 17 pair. 81 fledged
2020- 25 pair. 111 fledged
2021- 28 pair. 118 fledged
2022- 33 pair. 151 fledged
2023- 33 pair. 165 fledged
2024- 40 pair. 185 fledged
2025:
HOSP: 3 Starlings: 10
Home colony: mix natural, super, Troyer and excluder gourds, enlarged compartment house. All SREH.

Satellite colony: Oso Bay Preserve: 36 PMCA excluder gourds, 4 natural gourds; 16 room Lonestar Goliad with Modified Excluder entrances.
2019: Visitors
2020: 3 pair, 11 fledged
2021: 10 pair, 30 fledged
2022: 11 pair, 35 fledged
2023: 18 pair, 101 fledged
2024: 39 pair, 181 fledged
2025:
PMCA member

Dang, 7! Try soaking the dried meal.worms.in water too, perhaps pedialyite. They will be really dehydrated.
Hope it goes well! Please let us know,
Tom
A good house sparrow is a dead house sparrow.
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Thomabear
Posts: 468
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:10 am
Location: Cut Off, Louisiana

Great job saving them! Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be good for our Texas neighbors. Ya'll have been getting hammered.
2019- 6 Pair, 30 Fledged
2020- 8 Pair, 32 Fledged
2021- 10 Pair, 39 Fledged
HOSP count 130, Starlings 2
2022- 31 Pair, 146 Fledged
HOSP count to date 17, Starlings 1
2023- 28 Pair, 124 Fledged
HOSP count 47, Starlings 1
2024- 40 Pair, 192 Fledged
HOSP count 37,

PMCA Member
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Phil01
Posts: 291
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:42 pm
Location: Fernandina Beach FL
Martin Colony History: 34 Cavities offered.
24 unit gourd rack with Troyer Horizontal and Vertical Gourds. Sunset Inn aluminum house with 4 Troyer Horizontal Gourds.

2020- 1 pair, 4 eggs, fledged 3
2021- 3 pair, 15 eggs, fledged 8
2022- 5 pair, 26 eggs, fledged 21
2023- 10 pair, 53 eggs, fledged 27
2024- 26 pair, 125 eggs, fledged 83
PMCA Member

Poor babies look cold! Great job catching them before it was too late! Hope they all make a full recovery and weather improves in your neck of the woods!
Phil
PMCA member
Fernandina Beach, FL
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Martintown33
Posts: 1203
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2021 6:21 pm
Location: Laplace,La
Martin Colony History: Colony started in 1998. 2 s&k modified houses and gourd rack

That’s incredible! Awesome job to save them and feed them.. definitely let us know how the release goes. Best of luck to you.. amazing..
Rob
PMCA member
Laplace, La
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brucet
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 8:53 pm
Location: League City/Texas

Thanks, everyone! Update: Unfortunately, we did lose one of the martins overnight. We fed the remaining six a hearty cricket breakfast and some mealworms soaked in water. We let the birds out, and four have returned to the houses. However, two birds don't seem like they can fly. Their wings are droopy, and when they tried to fly, they couldn't. Do you guys think the remaining two will regain their strength if we continue to feed them and keep them protected from the hawks? We can give them a fresh box and bedding. Appreciate all the support.
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mwren
Posts: 174
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 2:43 pm
Location: OH/Athens
Martin Colony History: I have had my martin colony on the dam of one of my ponds for nine years. The colony has grown each year, but I am now concentrating on helping friends and acquaintances who have shown interests in martins. My colony consists of three T-14's with 8 Troyer gourds attatched to each T-14, a Troyer gourd rack with 12 gourds, and another gourd rack with 18 Troyer gourds for a total of 96 nest cavities. I am having serious predation issues with hawks and owls and am experimenting with various hawk guards and "screens". Established successful supplemental feeding the last few seasons and have had a blast flipping mostly meal worms and some crickets. Faculty from Ohio University are using my colony as a research site to study parasites that target cavity nesting birds. In exchange for access to my bird trail nest boxes and martin housing, they are banding all birds involved in their study.

A great investment to help you insure that the birds you are trying to save will make it!! I have saved a few birds who were suffering from hypothermal and/or starvation by keeping them in a large box that a new refridgerater came in. I had some light netting over the top of the box to keep the bird or birds inside the large box. I also put a branch in the box to give the bird a roosting option. This worked for a couple of spring time, early arrival problems too cold , and wet weather that grounded insects.
I improved my large box temporary home for a couple of poor conditioned martins by purchasing a pop-up mosquito netting tent at a local camping supply store! I kept them in the square pop up tent in the garage, and fed the birds meal worms live, and crickets. There is a good chance that you might have to hand feed the birds if they are in serious, very poor condition.

Mike "Bird" Wren
Mike "Bird" Wren
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ToyinPA
Posts: 2223
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:07 pm
Location: PA/Avis
Martin Colony History: The 1972 St. Agnes flood wiped out all the Martins in my area. One day, in 1997-98, 5 or 6 Martins landed on the power wires crossing my back yard. I had no house for them. They kept coming back day after day. We got a martin house a few weeks later & they have been coming back every year since. I average 12-15 pair per year.

brucet wrote: ↑
Mon Feb 24, 2025 10:48 am
 Thanks, everyone! Update: Unfortunately, we did lose one of the martins overnight. We fed the remaining six a hearty cricket breakfast and some mealworms soaked in water. We let the birds out, and four have returned to the houses. However, two birds don't seem like they can fly. Their wings are droopy, and when they tried to fly, they couldn't. Do you guys think the remaining two will regain their strength if we continue to feed them and keep them protected from the hawks? We can give them a fresh box and bedding. Appreciate all the support.
Droopy wings means starving and/or cold birds. Cold birds can not digest food. So warm them up. If you have a heating pad set it on low & place it under one end of the box. It also sounds like they are dehydrated. Soak the dried meal worms & crickets in Pedialyte. Put them in a low sided bowl & set it in the corner. That way their food isn't getting pooped on.

Homemade Pedialyte
1 Cup water
3/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Make fresh daily & warm it to room temp before using.
Adult Martins should be fed 25% of their body weight each day. Most adult birds will feed mainly in the mornings and early evenings.
PMCA Member
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