Cold weather and heating

[Thomabear]

Seems the upcoming cold weather is generating some good conversation on heating housing. Thanks Thomas Maddox! The reason I wanted to start a separate thread on the topic is to hopefully hear opinions from our Northern landlords regarding the need or no-need of heating. I have always wondered if the actual cold can kill them or is it actually starvation due to the inactivity of flying insects. After reading Flyin-Lowe’s reply in Thomas’s thread my curiosity was re-ignited. My thoughts coincide with supplemental feeding in that food during inclement weather helps to provide the added energy reserves martins need to maintain warmth. Hopefully some of our northern friends will chime in but my initial thoughts is that the martins will be fine to survive the cold if fed. If they aren’t taking food then it may be a good idea to extend their energy reserves by helping them to stay warm. Not sure on that one. Seems to me their only disadvantage is that they eat flying insects while other ground feeding birds do just fine in cold weather as food is available for them. Darn Sparrows and Starlings in particular. Any input would be appreciated.

[Thomas Maddox]

I love this. We all just want to help. My belief is that feeding is clearly #1, but some sort of heating may help them conserve a little more energy to make it to another day where conditions are better for them to be able to feed.

[paule]

I love this. We all just want to help. My belief is that feeding is clearly #1, but some sort of heating may help them conserve a little more energy to make it to another day where conditions are better for them to be able to feed.

I totally agree with Thomas on the above statement. There have been differing views on this throughout the years. I will offer mine. I have mostly aluminum Trios and believe cold can be a factor with aluminum. I thus have installed reptile heaters in them. I feed them when needed by flipping or on the bed and breakfast platform. Flipping is one of my wife's favorite things to do. If the perching martins have their wings dropping I plug in the heaters. Last year I found no need to plug them in at all.
Paul

[h2y]

Timely topic, thanks fellows. Reminds me of new born calves born in the dead of winter: if they nurse right away and fill their tummies, they normally survive as long as the "milk truck" stays accessible. If it were only so easy with PMs. Last year was a disaster here: 50 early ASY males died during cold weather due to my ignorance. Found them huddled, stuffed in just a few rooms, groups of 8+ PMs. I watched as another group huddled, stacked on the ground behind a wall where I had scattered mealworms, all perished...a bad scene, hopefully, not to be repeated this year. Therefore, experimenting with a heated, insulated cat house mated to a PM house via a 3" diameter PVC passageway since they will huddle up when their internal heaters aren't working due to a lack of food.

[Thomas Maddox]

I love this. We all just want to help. My belief is that feeding is clearly #1, but some sort of heating may help them conserve a little more energy to make it to another day where conditions are better for them to be able to feed.

I totally agree with Thomas on the above statement. There have been differing views on this throughout the years. I will offer mine. I have mostly aluminum Trios and believe cold can be a factor with aluminum. I thus have installed reptile heaters in them. I feed them when needed by flipping or on the bed and breakfast platform. Flipping is one of my wife's favorite things to do. If the perching martins have their wings dropping I plug in the heaters. Last year I found no need to plug them in at all.
Paul

Paul could you post pics of your heaters and set ups?

[Thomas Maddox]

Timely topic, thanks fellows. Reminds me of new born calves born in the dead of winter: if they nurse right away and fill their tummies, they normally survive. If it were only so easy with PMs. Last year was a disaster here: 50 early ASY males died from the weather. This year experimenting with a heated, insulated cat house mated to a PM house via a 3" diameter PVC passageway. Any chance?

I applaud your attempts and hopes it works. Keep us updated.

[seth❤️birds]

I never did anything to keep my Purple Martins warm, but I feed them mealworm in cold weather ,and I never had any die of cold weather that I know of. I looked it up and it says they can survive cold weather if they have supplemental food .

[h2y]

I never did anything to keep my Purple Martins warm, but I feed them mealworm in cold weather ,and I never had any die of cold weather that I know of. I looked it up and it says they can survive cold weather if they have supplemental food .

Do you flip them, feed out of a bowl or scatter the worms in their house or ground?

[paule]

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I love this. We all just want to help. My belief is that feeding is clearly #1, but some sort of heating may help them conserve a little more energy to make it to another day where conditions are better for them to be able to feed.

I totally agree with Thomas on the above statement. There have been differing views on this throughout the years. I will offer mine. I have mostly aluminum Trios and believe cold can be a factor with aluminum. I thus have installed reptile heaters in them. I feed them when needed by flipping or on the bed and breakfast platform. Flipping is one of my wife's favorite things to do. If the perching martins have their wings dropping I plug in the heaters. Last year I found no need to plug them in at all.
Paul

Paul could you post pics of your heaters and set ups?

Wow, must be getting old! Could not find the instructions or pictures for myself or how to post them. I'll try this.

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Pictures should explain everything. 75 watt reptile heater attached to a porcelain socket and then to a Trio door. Tape holes shut on door and install in a central compartment. I do have styrofoam insulation in all the Trio attics. Seems to help a lot in cold and heat situations.
Paul

[paule]

I never did anything to keep my Purple Martins warm, but I feed them mealworm in cold weather ,and I never had any die of cold weather that I know of. I looked it up and it says they can survive cold weather if they have supplemental food .

In my honest opinion meal worms are not enough for survival at my site. I tried that and lost my entire colony. Took seven years to get a pair back. Most of my birds did not die at the site. The ones I found still alive, I brought back but was unsuccessful rehabbing them. That is when I went on a mission to figure out how not to go through that again. Feeding crickets and eggs became part of the plan along with added heat if necessary. After three days of not enough nutrition they start to loose the ability to fly. Added heat gives them a bit longer.
Paul

[Martintown33]

Here’s a photo of my ceramic reptile heater setup. I wired a dimmer switch , that sits at the bottom of the pole, inside the plastic container to keep it dry. I use a 60 watt emitter and the dimmer switch allows me to adjust the heat. The scrap flashing metal mesh keeps the emitter from making direct contact with the compartment walls and allows heat to radiate to adjacent compartments . .the finned lid folds down to prevent too much heat from radiating to the compartment directly above it...

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[h2y]

Timely topic, thanks fellows. Reminds me of new born calves born in the dead of winter: if they nurse right away and fill their tummies, they normally survive. If it were only so easy with PMs. Last year was a disaster here: 50 early ASY males died from the weather. This year experimenting with a heated, insulated cat house mated to a PM house via a 3" diameter PVC passageway. Any chance?

I applaud your attempts and hopes it works. Keep us updated.

It's hung..."Lucille's" Cat House. Goop actually is a pretty amazing adhesive. Modifications made: 1 flap replaced with 1/8" clear plexiglass & waterproofed with Goop; other flap replaced with 1/8" rigid plastic, also waterproofed with Goop, and Gooped in the fitting. The 3" connecting sleeve not glued in, can remove either the PM house or the Cat House independently. The clear window faces south so on a sunny day will help warm it. Only 1 entry point. I'll put some eggs & crickets/meal worms in a bowl/plate in the middle compartment to the left.

[Thomabear]

Lots of great info and ideas. Thanks all for the pics!
h2y, I like that cat house idea. Please let us know if they adjust to using it. I like the idea of a simple stand alone unit that can be hung at a moments notice and support a larger number of birds.
My plan:
Since I got my birds to take food readily last year from tossing and the B&B feeder I’m planning on doing that exclusively without supplemental heat. I’ve all but convinced myself that they will be fine on food alone. We’ll see… I’ll monitor things real close and I already purchased and installed a pair of reptile heat mats in two compartments that can be plugged in should I see the need. These heating mats are 6x8 and fit my compartments like a glove under the wire mesh bottom nesting trays that sits up about 1/2” off the floor. They are a perfect fit. Tested them today with a heat gun before installing and they both got up to about 105 degrees which is just right.

[seth❤️birds]

I usually place my mealworm on the porch of my Martin house or inside the compartment , but I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right Paul. Thankfully I never really had very cold weather when my martins were here , so far .