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.
Since it's been so cold & rainy for several days I got some crickets & mealworms today. I was going to have my Huz lower the house & put them on the balcony & in the nests. My PM's are a bit nervous & take off if we walk down the side walk. SOOOO not wanting to stress them we came up with an idea of how to put up a feeding station.
We had several new frisbees. YES frisbees. My Huz drilled 4 holes to drain water/rain & then a hole in the center. We then screwed it upside down to the top of the clothes line pole, which is right under the martin house. I tossed a few crickets on it & in a matter of minutes a female was on the frisbee after them .
Get creative landlords. There's lots of ways to care for your martins without having to spend a big buck.
Toy
Good job!!!!! Were your Crickets dead or alive.I stop to get mealworms and crickets yesterday on the way home from work and they were out of both.So I bought some wax worms. I don't know if they will eat them or not but I know I wouldn't.I have a female that been eating
the egg shells so I going to put some worms in with the shells.I have a
adult male that been here for 2 weeks and he got himself a girlfriend 3 days ago.They been staying in a gourd all night. Yesterday they returned home with another female.Thing are starting to look up for me this year.
I have been trying since 1980 so for me to be sure I'm going to have to see that first egg and then maybe I'll beleive it.
Don
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.
Alive. I had put them in the fridge so they'd sort of be alive, but not moving much. I placed them on the feeder around 7:30 PM, about an hour before dark & the time when the martins go into the nests for the night. From my second floor windows I could see down to the feeder. After about 30 minutes the crickets began to move alittle, but not allot. One cricket tangled up with a mealworm & they were rolling around stuck together. At dark there were still crickets & mealworms on the feeder/frisbee, but it was too cold for them to hop off. This morning they were all gone. Saw a female on on it looking for more.
Congrats on your first pair . Hopefully you'll get a few more. I'm still watching for male subbies. Have 2 females subbies that keep coming & going. One of the ASY males that's got a mate (ASY female) chased one off yesterday. So far I have 4 ASY pairs nesting.
Toy:
I agree, you don't have to spend a lot of money to erect a feeding station. I used one of those brown plastic water holding dish's that people use to put under thier potted plants so when you water your plants the excess water goes into the dish instead of dripping onto the floor. I drilled drain holes in it and attached it to the top of 5' 2x4. I also cut a clear plastic cup down to about 2" and put it in the center of the dish. Filled it with prepared eggshells. Have both pine needles and green leaves in the dish. All of my birds, especially the females use the feeding station. Since all the material I used, I had around the house, the feeding station did not cost me anything.
Tim
.
. Hopefully you'll get a few more. I'm still watching for male subbies. Have 2 females subbies that keep coming & going. One of the ASY males that's got a mate (ASY female) chased one off yesterday. So far I have 4 ASY pairs nesting.