Need Tips On Training PMs To Take Crickets - St Louis Area
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CraigMo.
- Posts: 1480
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:30 pm
- Location: Missouri/Lone Jack
- Martin Colony History: Active since 2003
Thanks Terry, I will do it once a day and am not sure if my female is alive. I have not seen her today. I will put about 5 crickets in 6 of the compartments on the side that they are staying on. I wish they were in the gourds which would be warmer since they are plastic and bigger in size. I think I had a male visitor again today so maybe they are not hurting as much as I think they should be.
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starling shooter
- Posts: 461
- Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2003 7:43 pm
- Location: Central MO
I just lowered my housing to put some crickets in the gourds. PMs flew out. They landed on the perching rods and I shot some crickets out of a .5" PVC pipe. Worked great but not takers. Anyway, a FREAKING Cooper's Hawks comes and makes a pass at them. Since he was flying into the wind, they got away but sssheesshhh. When they flew off, I put crickets in the gourds and raised the rack. They came back and went in them. I saw a Coopers in high speed pursuit last night not far away. Hope they aren't nesting nearby but they did about 5 years ago.
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Guest
kEEP at it, the birds are going to need all the help they can get in the midwest for sure. I live in Kansas and this weather is really bad right now for them. wind blowing 35 mph and in the 30's. I noticed several posted they ordered crickets. WHO DO YOU ORDER THEM FROM???
I can only find the small meally worms here in Topeka. Oh the Pet store has crickets but there like 12 cents each. I need to make a large purchase so anyone with the Cricket purchasing information I would appreciate it.
Those meally worms are really small. I had one mature martin arrive yesterday. He must be from last year as he dived bombed me right away wanting something to eat. I flipped the meally wormand he snapped it up the first flip. Sitting on the wire, he really looked STRESSED with wings hanging. After about thirty five successful meally worm grabs, I think he started to SMILE. HO HO HO.... But I would still like to know where to order the crickets. Thanks eveyone for your help. OH I HATE KANSAS IT'S WEATHER AND TAXES...... Later John
I can only find the small meally worms here in Topeka. Oh the Pet store has crickets but there like 12 cents each. I need to make a large purchase so anyone with the Cricket purchasing information I would appreciate it.
Those meally worms are really small. I had one mature martin arrive yesterday. He must be from last year as he dived bombed me right away wanting something to eat. I flipped the meally wormand he snapped it up the first flip. Sitting on the wire, he really looked STRESSED with wings hanging. After about thirty five successful meally worm grabs, I think he started to SMILE. HO HO HO.... But I would still like to know where to order the crickets. Thanks eveyone for your help. OH I HATE KANSAS IT'S WEATHER AND TAXES...... Later John
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CraigMo.
- Posts: 1480
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:30 pm
- Location: Missouri/Lone Jack
- Martin Colony History: Active since 2003
I added crickets just now and no sign of martins. I was wondering if you all think maybe they are doing the group thing in an area compartment with a bunch of other martins to stay warm?
John try a fish and tackle spot that sells bait, mine were a little cheaper there. Next year I am going to order them from I think the pmca by the thousand which the costs goes down. Atleast the pmca can point me in the right direction. Any pet store might give you a deal by the thousand I think. Its here on the forum that Louise sent a link to on feeding pms. John its the 2nd reply on this topic, those are the links
John try a fish and tackle spot that sells bait, mine were a little cheaper there. Next year I am going to order them from I think the pmca by the thousand which the costs goes down. Atleast the pmca can point me in the right direction. Any pet store might give you a deal by the thousand I think. Its here on the forum that Louise sent a link to on feeding pms. John its the 2nd reply on this topic, those are the links
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Guest
Thank you Craig - I will check the link. Yea, most of the bait shops in Topeka have went out of business. I remember years ago, a fisherman could buy what they call a TUBE of crickets, had several hundred in them for a couple of dollars... NOT ANYMORE... just like Diesel everything is going up. OK I am going to look at that link. Thanks for the comeback.
Later John
Later John
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Guest
Thank you Big T - I will check it out and get some headed this way. Have put a pole up with tray.... But a person living in KANSAS can't put anything eatable in the tray. KANSAS WIND BLOWS 30 PLUS all the time. A person would just waste a lot of good food.
Now a real invention would be a WIND SWITCH, that we need here. and I would buy ha ha
Now a real invention would be a WIND SWITCH, that we need here. and I would buy ha ha
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John Miller
- Posts: 4863
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Just a report. Just got back from adding crickets for second day to aluminum housing compartments at two St. Louis sites, one in Forest Park and at a restaurant parking lot site. Also today added large "giant" meal worms I got from a pet store. I saw one ASY male on the porch afterward with a mealworm - he dropped it, but encouraging. Crickets from yesterday were gone, so hopefully had been eaten. John Miller.
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CraigMo.
- Posts: 1480
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:30 pm
- Location: Missouri/Lone Jack
- Martin Colony History: Active since 2003
John Hogan thats what they called them at my bait shop, I got 3 large tube fulls for 8 dollars. John Miller that is encouraging for me, since today is the 1rst time I have fed martins crickets because of cold weather.
Hi all, just reloaded for the night. New handwarmers and two dozen crickets or so in each of the three compartments they are using. They seem to be eating pretty well in the compartments. Most of the crickets are gone at each check. Today, everything I put on the B&B gets covered with snow in just a short time. This weather SUCKS! Let's keep up the good fight. Terry
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CraigMo.
- Posts: 1480
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:30 pm
- Location: Missouri/Lone Jack
- Martin Colony History: Active since 2003
Wow Terry I have 2 martins and I only put 5 crickets in each of 6 compartments. I will put more in tomorrow if they come back for the night. I will check no matter what, but am unsure of how many, just depends if they come back.
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Don & Danielle
- Posts: 111
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2003 6:55 pm
- Location: Dardenne Prairie, MO (suburb of St. Louis)
THEY TOOK SOME I FLIPPED!!!! 
THEY TOOK SOME I FLIPPED!!!!
I lowered the rack this afternoon. Six-seven birds flew out & about. I put handwarmers in the gourds we thought they were using, and reloaded crickets too. I'm not sure, but it looks like some crickets had been eaten... but maybe just moved around.
It was very windy, and they were flying around, so I flipped a few crickets. After about the 5th flip, one ASY male caught one! I could here his bill snap! They probably caught about a dozen altogether, but it was hard flipping/catching since it's so windy. I put some on my Bed-N-Breakfast tray & raised it up, but I don't think they made the connection to the food.
I raised the rack and they came back to the gourds. I flipped a few more, but their interest was gone. Again, I'm not sure if this is good (they're not too hungry?), or bad (they still haven't learned). Then they went inside.
But, I have hope! I will try again tomorrow... hopefully it won't be so windy!
D&D
THEY TOOK SOME I FLIPPED!!!!
I lowered the rack this afternoon. Six-seven birds flew out & about. I put handwarmers in the gourds we thought they were using, and reloaded crickets too. I'm not sure, but it looks like some crickets had been eaten... but maybe just moved around.
It was very windy, and they were flying around, so I flipped a few crickets. After about the 5th flip, one ASY male caught one! I could here his bill snap! They probably caught about a dozen altogether, but it was hard flipping/catching since it's so windy. I put some on my Bed-N-Breakfast tray & raised it up, but I don't think they made the connection to the food.
I raised the rack and they came back to the gourds. I flipped a few more, but their interest was gone. Again, I'm not sure if this is good (they're not too hungry?), or bad (they still haven't learned). Then they went inside.
But, I have hope! I will try again tomorrow... hopefully it won't be so windy!
D&D
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Guest
Yahoo!
The pair that I have are still alive! They ate all the crickets I put in this morning. I ended up flushing them out again to restock their cricket supply, but were flying back in as I left the area. Like I rang the dinner bell I guess. They didn't eat any of the cricket/egg mixture though. I waited until it is 36 degrees, the warmest of the day to do this.
I also put in some handwarmers and some extra pine needles over them in the nest trays. I could only find the 10 hour handwarmers. I will go to Gander tomorrow when I have time and get the 24 hour ones.
I took the eggs off the improvised platter I have, but I put some crickets on it, just in case. Although the wind is crazy here, and they will most likely end up in the grass.
I hope I can keep them alive through this weekend. It is going down to 17-25 degrees at night.
How can we love these birds so much?
Thanks for listening,supporting and advising. Sue
The pair that I have are still alive! They ate all the crickets I put in this morning. I ended up flushing them out again to restock their cricket supply, but were flying back in as I left the area. Like I rang the dinner bell I guess. They didn't eat any of the cricket/egg mixture though. I waited until it is 36 degrees, the warmest of the day to do this.
I also put in some handwarmers and some extra pine needles over them in the nest trays. I could only find the 10 hour handwarmers. I will go to Gander tomorrow when I have time and get the 24 hour ones.
I took the eggs off the improvised platter I have, but I put some crickets on it, just in case. Although the wind is crazy here, and they will most likely end up in the grass.
I hope I can keep them alive through this weekend. It is going down to 17-25 degrees at night.
How can we love these birds so much?
Thanks for listening,supporting and advising. Sue-
Bob Flam
Good job folks!
For South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, probably some in Kansas, and nothern and middle Missouri...today is hitting a very critical time and martins can and will be dieing in places. Not a question of possibly...they are!
It may also include Illinois and Wisconsin and surely will by tomorrow. I didn't keep track of the front that went through starting with rain and then the cold behind it. The states east us like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, parts of Tennesse got it probably starting a day later. Like I said, I didn't keep track of that fronts progress. You guys a little further south I'm not sure.
I know it's day 5 today(Saturday) here in S.E. Iowa of no food or not enough to sustain them.
We are to that point here, north me, and west me, possibly a lil south and east now that trying to train them to take flipped crickets or mealworms is probably not even an option. They won't even have the strength to fly or if they do, that will be all it will take to finish them off waisting that bit of energy they have left.
Hitting the weekend kills a lot of chances to get next day food by mail. Your best bet is now is to hit the bait shops and pet stores for crickets or meal worms.
Put them directly in the compartments, 3 times a day. Morning, middle of the day, and around 5 p.m. At least twice a day. If you can rig something up like a golf ball retriever, piece of PVC pipe, even a 2x4 or 2x2 with a cup that you can dump some in compartments with might be best. If you have to lower the housing to do it, you may have to. Every area is going to be a lil different, you live there and know what it's been like better than me...weather wise.
We are the lucky ones here on the Forum, we are saving birds. The very large majority of people out there with martins still don't know about this supplemental feeding thing..how much they need, when...etc. Many many birds are dieing today and in the next few.
If you find birds beyond help or can't do it yourself, I am including a couple links to the U.S. Wildlife Rehabilitator Contacts by States.
(States A-M): http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactA.htm
(States N-W): http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactN.htm
Here's a link to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directories Home page. It has a lot of helpful info on it. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/
Good luck!
bob
For South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, probably some in Kansas, and nothern and middle Missouri...today is hitting a very critical time and martins can and will be dieing in places. Not a question of possibly...they are!
It may also include Illinois and Wisconsin and surely will by tomorrow. I didn't keep track of the front that went through starting with rain and then the cold behind it. The states east us like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, parts of Tennesse got it probably starting a day later. Like I said, I didn't keep track of that fronts progress. You guys a little further south I'm not sure.
I know it's day 5 today(Saturday) here in S.E. Iowa of no food or not enough to sustain them.
We are to that point here, north me, and west me, possibly a lil south and east now that trying to train them to take flipped crickets or mealworms is probably not even an option. They won't even have the strength to fly or if they do, that will be all it will take to finish them off waisting that bit of energy they have left.
Hitting the weekend kills a lot of chances to get next day food by mail. Your best bet is now is to hit the bait shops and pet stores for crickets or meal worms.
Put them directly in the compartments, 3 times a day. Morning, middle of the day, and around 5 p.m. At least twice a day. If you can rig something up like a golf ball retriever, piece of PVC pipe, even a 2x4 or 2x2 with a cup that you can dump some in compartments with might be best. If you have to lower the housing to do it, you may have to. Every area is going to be a lil different, you live there and know what it's been like better than me...weather wise.
We are the lucky ones here on the Forum, we are saving birds. The very large majority of people out there with martins still don't know about this supplemental feeding thing..how much they need, when...etc. Many many birds are dieing today and in the next few.
If you find birds beyond help or can't do it yourself, I am including a couple links to the U.S. Wildlife Rehabilitator Contacts by States.
(States A-M): http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactA.htm
(States N-W): http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactN.htm
Here's a link to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directories Home page. It has a lot of helpful info on it. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/
Good luck!
bob
Last edited by Bob Flam on Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Bob Flam
And if you can...consider donations to these wildlife rehabbers also. They can't do it without our help.
Thanks,
bob
Thanks,
bob
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Sigundo
This is our second day feeding crickets to the martins. Very cold and windy. Took them about eight crickets before they would try and catch one the first day, but thats pretty fast so I'm thinking somebody has tossed them before and I just got the lucky pre-trained birds.
With the high winds, I've found launching up and into the wind, the cricket will curve back towards the martins, not right at them, so they see it coming a long way and do well taking them. After a few I started shooting a bit closer as they were ready to launch after them. One bird ate six in a row, then flew off so I'm thinking he was full for now.
Also, I had frozen the crickets, then thawed some in a ziploc bag. 15 seconds in a microwave (still in the bag) seemed to warm them up nicely with no moisture loss (at least nothing visible). I'm thinking a slightly warmed cricket will digest easier than a 40 degree one from the fridge...but who knows really.
With the high winds, I've found launching up and into the wind, the cricket will curve back towards the martins, not right at them, so they see it coming a long way and do well taking them. After a few I started shooting a bit closer as they were ready to launch after them. One bird ate six in a row, then flew off so I'm thinking he was full for now.
Also, I had frozen the crickets, then thawed some in a ziploc bag. 15 seconds in a microwave (still in the bag) seemed to warm them up nicely with no moisture loss (at least nothing visible). I'm thinking a slightly warmed cricket will digest easier than a 40 degree one from the fridge...but who knows really.
Sat. morning report, these birds amaze me at their resilience. Reasonably perky this morning with temps at 23 degrees and windy. Most ate a few tossed crickets then just sat and watched. 90% of all crickets placed in the cavities were eaten. With this cold and wind, I believe cavity feeding is the most effective method. Tried again to put food on the B&B, but a passing snow squall immediately covered everything. I put more in the cavities and they immediately went in. Will try more "tossing" at lunch time. THe 24 hour hand warmers worked pretty well, and were still a tat warm this morning. Hope everyone is succeeding in keeping these little guys alive. Terry
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Guest
To Day - Nothing moving....... I believe I have the one that I fed Meal worms yesterday staying in one of my gourds. It is bitter cold & wind howling here in STINKING KANSAS today. I have a question. I think he is in one of the plastic gourds. It's 10 am now, Should I lower the gourd and put a heat pad inside?????? I hate to disturb the bird, but there are no others to huddle with.
I am looking for some Idea's here folk's and appreciate any suggestions.
thank you in advance John
I am looking for some Idea's here folk's and appreciate any suggestions.
thank you in advance John