First Babies of 2010

bobnjo · Sat Jun 12, 2010 7:51 pm

Our first babies arrived today, 6/12. First egg laid 5/24, according to Martinwatch XLS, they should have begun hatching on 6/7. Is it common that they miss the anticipated hatch date? Oh Well, we are as happy as can be anytime they arrive.
We now have 23 nests in our 24 gourds, 110 eggs, and 4 kiddies.

~Ray~Gingerich · Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:00 pm

I have had some hatch a little before the projected hatch date.

Wow! 23 out of 24 taken, time to get that No Vacancy sign out.

Stephen Thomas · Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:55 pm

Congratulations!!

I to hoping for some little ones in a few days to 14 days. I was on vacation. So when I checked the nests there were four eggs. But no green leaves. I guess I should do an other check to see if there any more eggs.

Again Congratulations!!!

AllenH · Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:34 pm

EDITED

I forgot to add this:

First egg of 6 was laid on 5/22. Time till hatching is calculated from last egg laid.

With 4 eggs, the first one laid on the 24 and the last one laid about the 27th, the speadsheet shows a hatch date of 6/11.

I find it interesting that my first nest to hatch was on 6/11 and I am about 450 miles straight north of your location.

The nest that hatched already was from an ASY female I had caught in a Glue Trap by her 2 feet and 2 tail feather tips about 10 days ago. She had squeezed through a 1 3/16 inch hole in a compartment that a persistant sparrow was using. Apparently she was not traumatized from the ordeal. She had no fear of me and didn't struggle while I cleaned her up and released her. She came right back to her nest as soon as I raised the house. I have several more due to hatch by the 15th.

I am still seeing new SY's everyday and may get another pair or two yet. It has been a very unusual year with a lot of cold wet weather. For me supplemental feeding has been a tremendous help keeping them alive.

Hope you haven't been having the same poor weather and your season goes well.

flyin-lowe · Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:45 pm

I think that depending on the weather the female doesn't start incubating the eggs until after the last one is laid so they will hatch on the same day. This is my first year with the PMW spread sheet but I noticed it gave a projected hatch date based on the date of the first egg laid. I female that lays seven eggs in one nest likely won't start incubating the eggs for a week or so after the first one was laid so the numbers can very a little. This is how it was explained to me so if I have this wrong someone please correct me.

Edit.
I went back and looked at my spreadsheet and one nest had the first egg on 5/31 and it projected the hatch date as 6/19. Another nest had the first egg on 6/1 and it's projected hatch date is 6/18, so I am not sure what that is all about.