Feeding Crickets

[Spiderman]

We had 4 Purple Martins arrive at our site yesterday, (Tuesday) 2 ASY males and 2 ASY females. Last night it was 30 degrees here and the forecast for Thursday and Friday is for sleet and snow.

Last year I was able to feed our Martins crickets when it was really cold or rainy. I think we had 17 at the time. So this morning with red Solo cup and plastic spoon in hand, I wanted to see if anyone remembered the behavior.

On the 3rd cricket one of the ASY males caught the cricket in mid-air and proceeded to catch the next 4 crickets. An ASY female caught the next cricket and eventually all 4 Martins caught either 4 or 5 crickets before returning to their nestboxes.

It is good to know that if I have to I can feed the few early Martins until the weather improves.

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

Jim:

I share your feelings about supplemental feeding. For the past couple of seasons, I have had a need to supplemental feed my early arrivals. As you prepare to make that first flip, you can't help but wonder if any of them were at your site previously and are trained to take flipped crickets. When you see that first martin take one of your first offerings, it does tend to give you that warm fuzzy feeling.

Tim

[CHenry]

So you just put a cricket on the spoon and flip it up at there house or did you stand away from the house and flip it towards a flying martin?

[Louise Chambers]

everyone interested in trying to feed martins during the present cold weather, go to sticky post "Good video of how to feed martins" for some how to instructions.

Sticky post, Basics for the start of a new season has links to some feeding articles.

Archives, section titled management, has numerous articles on feeding.

Martins are usually able to survive 3, maybe 4 days of poor feeding BUT if you have new arrivals, they may arrive depleted and lack the reserves to get through even a few days. Pay attention to their behavior, order crickets and mealworms online ahead of time to get better prices, try eggs if you can't locate or afford insects, or if your birds are already trained to eat insects.



Louise

[JeanS]

Last year during a cold spell, we flinged and flicked crickets, we left crickets in gords and on the bed and breakfast stand. Our PMs never ate our crickets. But we have a cricket stash ready and waiting to try again this year. I hope they will eat them this year because we are in for some nasty weather soon.

[Guest]

I was successful in putting then directly thru the entry on the tunned floor off to the side,most were eaten and some I witnessed them throwing them out.....

A further note, it is presently 51 degrees should warm another couple before dark,overcast and winds are relatively calm and all birds are gone I believe,hopefully feeding.I'll start watching for there return about 4:30PM

dick

[Spiderman]

I would like to say it was easy to feed them the first time but honestly for me it wasn't. Last year, it had rained and was around freezing for 3 days. We had about 17 Martins here at the time. I had purchased some crickets online, 1000 is what I remember.

I put on most of the clothes that I owned and walked down to the Purple Martin house. The roof was lined with Martins that would periodically circle low over the lake looking for bugs that did not exist. I probably flipped 125 crickets over the roof of the house, sometimes the Martins would have to duck to keep the cricket from hitting them.

Eventually an ASY male came off of the roof and caught one cricket. I would wait for him to land and flip again in his direction. He caught the next 5 or 6 crickets in a row. When he stopped the next Martin sitting next to him took a turn. Shortly when you flipped the cricket straight up in the air 5 or 6 Martins would try to catch it. We ended up using 5,200 crickets last year and it was the best money we have ever spent.

[CHenry]

Where is a good place to order crickets? How much do they cost?
I Used dead June bugs last year and wished i had some crickets.
Tragectly i had a storm on afternoon last year and lightning hit the martin house and blew it up. I saved a couple of young that were only days or hours from flying. The majority of the young birds perished.
I took them in the house, put them in a box over night and the next day I fed them both a couple of june bugs in hopes it would give them the energy to fly. They were perched on the side of a foam drink coozy and i carried them outside and set the coozys on the BBQ grill and went back inside. About 20 minutes later they flew off

[Spiderman]

The company I ordered crickets from last year has gone out of businees.

I would search the web and order about 1000 crickets the first time. They will ship the crickets over night, just put the box in the freezer for an hour and then open and put 50 to 100 crickets per freezer bags and freeze them until you need them.

To thaw just sit the plastic bag on the counter for 15 minutes and add a couple of drops of water and they are ready to go.

Buy a box of plastic spoons at Walmart and you are in business.


Good Luck with your Martins in 2010.

[Louise Chambers]

the feeding article on main pmca page and in the sticky, basics for a new season on this page, list some sources. reptilefood.com, grubco, flukerfarms, all sell crickets and/or mealworms

Louise

[CHenry]

wow, the crickets are live? Just frozen? so do they come back to life when they thaw?

[Spiderman]

Yes, they are alive when you receive them.

No, once frozen they will not come back to life.

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

Well, since we are talking about flipping crickets and scrambled eggs, I thought I would share the implement I now use to do my flipping. I started out using a plastic spoon which seems to be the tool of choice. My problem with a plastic spoon was they would keep breaking. (I don't know how many trips I HAD to make to DQ for a sundae just to get a new plastic spoon.)

Last year, my wife told me to try a scoop that she was handing to me. I did and it worked great. It lasted all season and is ready for action this year. It is 1/4 cup in size and made out of plastic. The name EKCO is on the handle. I guess it is what you might buy as a sugar or coffee scoop. The scoop part is big enough where I can put two or three crickets in at the same time and they disperse in a fairly wide range when tossed. I can flip the crickets a lot higher with this scoop than I could with a plastic spoon. Here is a picture of the scoop I use laying beside a fork to show its size.

Tim

[birdy girl]

Just a warning to newbee's at feeding crickets, be very aware of surrounding area while feeding martins because this is a easy time for a hawk to swoop in a take martins because they are hungry and watching the food more than watching for danger (hawks). This hasn't happened to me, but I have read several posts from landlords that this has happened to. Be aware and ready to act quickly (scare hawk away) to prevent this from happening because it can happen in a flash.

[parkerdes]

I am currently raising my own mealworms for BBs here in North Texas...has anyone had success feeding them to the PMs or are crickets a better choice?
I had my first ASY martin come in Feb 24th last year but luckily, didn't have a need to feed. This year may be a different story with all the cold temps we are having...just hope they wait a few more weeks to come home!
Tim, I think almost every grocery store carries Ekco brand kitchen utensils. Now I know what to get if I need it! Thanks!

[Craig Haddox]

I have 3000 crickets waiting for my first martins to arrive. They love the crickets and I love feeding them to the martins. They go to bed with full bellies and I get a good nights sleep.

[BumBee]

I have the same experience with dicklaxt. When the cold and rainy days
come, they would just disappear all day and be back in for the night.

So I've had never had a chance to feed them. That's a good thing "I think"

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I fed mine one time, they ate about 15 each, but some never moved off the racks, so some didn't eat. The next morning, the martins met me near the back coor, so I fed them the remainder of the crickets and mealworms. They would not accept eggs. That year, even the ones that didn't eat survived. I am thinking that most years you will never even get a chance to feed them in our area, they would prefer to go hunting. Also, I have never lost any due to the weather, but I am positive that it will happen sooner or later. I wish that I could feed them, but they stay inside the gourds, or they are out hunting.

[BumBee]

Emil,
Now I know where the martins in my backyard goes. Thank you Emil and
thank you spellcheck.....I've got two thumbs when it comes to typing.

[LarryMelcher/KY]

My experience with training them to accept crickets, is that they HAVE to be hungry. The first day I tried... nothing. The next a few caught some. If I remember correctly, it was the third day. They were out on the perches on my gourd rack, and looked tired. Wings drooping, that sort of thing. They have to be hungry to do something that is not normal for them.... "Eating wiht their landing gear down."