Help, need advice ASAP!

Guest · Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:31 pm

I did a nest check yesterday and again this afternoon due to the fact I will be having a medical procedure tomorrow on Monday that will pretty much take me out of commission until late Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday I found five eggs in one nest and five again today, so feel she has finished laying. I found one egg yesterday in another nest and two today, even though I saw the female in the nest she is not laying in this morning.

But, I found one egg in a third nest yesterday and today another egg in the nest next door to this compartment. I saw her go in the compartment with no eggs last night, and the male went in the compartment with one egg last night. This pair has also been building two nests. My question is, should I leave the one egg in each nest belonging to the same pair, and wait until she settles on a nest and then put all the eggs in the nest that she has the most in on Tuesday when I can next do a next check?

Bud
North Plano, Texas

CUL Lou~Mich · Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:00 pm

Bud. Unless you have some positive way of identifying them, I'd leave the eggs alone. You could easily have three females all laying eggs. Just my humble opinion. CUL Lou

Guest · Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:11 pm

To clarify what I was saying, yes I do have three females laying eggs, one in the gourds, built two nests but have layed eggs in only one gourd so far.

The female on one side the Martin house has five eggs and evidently has completed laying her clutch.

The third female and her mate have built nest in two compartments and I have watched them go in both for weeks now. He is very territorial also, and I've got his mate well identified. Now she has laid an egg in both compartments. I watch her go in them every night and last night she went in the "other" compartment from where there was one egg yesterday. Now this afternoon there is an also an egg in the compartment she went in last night. She has definitely laid an egg in both compartments.

Dale Hrncirik · Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:41 pm

Bud,

Here's what i would do if the experts agree. I would wait a few more days to find out what nest she decides to lay in. Once no more eggs are laid in the full nest AND IF no more are laid in the nest with one egg, then I would consider moving the one egg at that time. Hopefully the PMCA can give their expert advice. Hope all goes well with you.

Dale

Guest · Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:47 pm

I'm no expert, but I agree with Dale. She isn't going to incubate her eggs until all of them are laid. That means you should have a few days to wait it out before she's ready. If at that time she hasn't added to the one egg you found, you could probably move the solo egg then. That's JMHO.

Best of luck to you with your medical procedure. Get well soon!

Shel

Guest · Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:01 pm

THanks you all for your advice. You have confirmed what I thought I should do. Will wait until Tuesday afternoon when I can do my next nest check, and by that time we should have two more eggs. Will watch and move eggs to one nest after she finishes laying her clutch. Thanks again as I have not experienced this before!

Guest · Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:32 pm

I checked my nests this afternoon (Tuesday) and found the pair with one egg in each nest on Sunday now has one egg in one nest and three eggs in the other. So, I moved the one egg to the nest with three eggs. Both nests do belong to the same pair of Martins for sure. When the pair came back after I raised the pole I noticed the female looking out of the compartment with no eggs now and the male sitting on the porch with the four eggs. We've had cool weather move back into North Texas after several real hot days. Is she just not ready to incubate the eggs yet? Maybe she is not finished laying. Anyway, I've made the switch as suggested and hope she will move back to the nest with all the eggs now.

Bud
North Plano, Texas