Feeding Eggs

[Sue P]

This isn't the normal time for supplemental feeding, but I want my martins to know what chicken eggs are and to eat them from the bed and breakfast. Last spring was an absolute nightmare. I lost 2/3 of my colony, and this year have only 20 babies, as opposed to the 80 fledged last year. I have been putting chopped hard boiled eggs with their shells in the bed and breakfast, and some of the birds are eating them. I would assume this is safe since they do eat eggs in the springtime if they are accustomed to them. Could anyone tell me if there is a downside to this idea? Sue P

[flyin-lowe]

You never know with mother nature, but typically martins that have not been supplemental fed in the past would not take eggs from a tray this time of year when they are not really hungry due to days of rain etc. If you are seeing martins pecking around in the food tray they might be getting the egg shells for calcium and maybe other birds are getting the eggs. Many people cannot get martins to eat eggs from a tray when they are starving so for them to be eating eggs when the weather is good seems unlikely. My experience has been that the martins need to be pretty hungry when you train them to take supplemental feed.

[Dave Duit]

Hi Sue,
I have never boiled eggs and chopped them up for my martins. I have only scrambled my eggs without using oil. I scramble the eggs and chop them up in the pan using a pastry cutter. Then, I clean the inside of the eggs shells under a little running water and microwave them for 1 minute and then cruch them up for the martins on the feeding tray.