Supplemental feeding…When to stop?
Tom, will definitely be offering some egg shells. At the price of eggs we’re using everything but the carton. Might try some now that they’re looking for food in the feeder. It’s a little early but can’t hurt to try.
2019- 6 Pair, 30 Fledged
2020- 8 Pair, 32 Fledged
2021- 10 Pair, 39 Fledged
HOSP count 130, Starlings 2
2022- 31 Pair, 146 Fledged
HOSP count to date 17, Starlings 1
2023- 28 Pair, 124 Fledged
HOSP count 47, Starlings 1
2024- 40 Pair, 192 Fledged
HOSP count 37,
PMCA Member
2020- 8 Pair, 32 Fledged
2021- 10 Pair, 39 Fledged
HOSP count 130, Starlings 2
2022- 31 Pair, 146 Fledged
HOSP count to date 17, Starlings 1
2023- 28 Pair, 124 Fledged
HOSP count 47, Starlings 1
2024- 40 Pair, 192 Fledged
HOSP count 37,
PMCA Member
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Phil01
- Posts: 291
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:42 pm
- Location: Fernandina Beach FL
- Martin Colony History: 34 Cavities offered.
24 unit gourd rack with Troyer Horizontal and Vertical Gourds. Sunset Inn aluminum house with 4 Troyer Horizontal Gourds.
2020- 1 pair, 4 eggs, fledged 3
2021- 3 pair, 15 eggs, fledged 8
2022- 5 pair, 26 eggs, fledged 21
2023- 10 pair, 53 eggs, fledged 27
2024- 26 pair, 125 eggs, fledged 83
PMCA Member
Thomabear, I like the galvanized pipe idea A LOT! Thank you! Will be much easier and less permanent if I choose to move it around! I’m glad your arm is resting and your Advil bill is decreasing! lol
I was putting egg shells on the porches last year and they were eating them there. Will be nice to put them on a feeding platform along with everything else.
Brent, in answer to the original topic of this thread… Mine told me yesterday.. lol Yesterday the weather was in the sixty’s and beautiful.. They all went out to feed in the afternoon, came back early and were acting like Martins again… I went out to see if they would take some… Nope.. Like two flew out and grabbed a couple and that was it… They were more worried about who’s getting which female and cavity for the night, which is fine with me! Good to see them act like Martins again..
Fast fwd to today… Rainy and in the 50’s… Some left, others huddled up on the perches and porches. I’ll see if they’ll take some this afternoon…
Phil
I was putting egg shells on the porches last year and they were eating them there. Will be nice to put them on a feeding platform along with everything else.
Brent, in answer to the original topic of this thread… Mine told me yesterday.. lol Yesterday the weather was in the sixty’s and beautiful.. They all went out to feed in the afternoon, came back early and were acting like Martins again… I went out to see if they would take some… Nope.. Like two flew out and grabbed a couple and that was it… They were more worried about who’s getting which female and cavity for the night, which is fine with me! Good to see them act like Martins again..
Fast fwd to today… Rainy and in the 50’s… Some left, others huddled up on the perches and porches. I’ll see if they’ll take some this afternoon…
Phil
PMCA member
Fernandina Beach, FL
Fernandina Beach, FL
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mwren
- Posts: 174
- Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 2:43 pm
- Location: OH/Athens
- Martin Colony History: I have had my martin colony on the dam of one of my ponds for nine years. The colony has grown each year, but I am now concentrating on helping friends and acquaintances who have shown interests in martins. My colony consists of three T-14's with 8 Troyer gourds attatched to each T-14, a Troyer gourd rack with 12 gourds, and another gourd rack with 18 Troyer gourds for a total of 96 nest cavities. I am having serious predation issues with hawks and owls and am experimenting with various hawk guards and "screens". Established successful supplemental feeding the last few seasons and have had a blast flipping mostly meal worms and some crickets. Faculty from Ohio University are using my colony as a research site to study parasites that target cavity nesting birds. In exchange for access to my bird trail nest boxes and martin housing, they are banding all birds involved in their study.
Thomabear, CC,brent, phil01 and other southern supplemental feeders!!,
Great to see all the interest and the need for supplemental feeding that has helped others to learn how to be successful over the past couple of years. Luckily, us northern yankees up in Ohio do not have to worry about the feeding methods everyone is sharing on the forum just yet !! Our birds are still approx a month away. That can change as the weather changes, but it is better to get stocked up earlier than to get caught with not enough food inventory! I have learned over the years to order 4 to 6 thousand of the Giant meal worms & some crickets before the birds have been traced crossing the Ohio River heading north! Great to see that my LSU and Burrow fans are taking care of their early arrivals in cold and wet weather!! "Who Dey??"
As you get your birds trained to understand what you are doing with the large white plastic serving spoons.......adding platform feeding can make the task much easier.!!
My Bluebirds that have a trail of houses down in the large field below my main Martin Colony can help teach your martins not only how to catch the flipped meal worms, they can also show your martins the other learned behaviour of feeding off the platforms.! I have a couple of the Troyer feeding platforms mixed in between my Colony Towers.
I can't think of too many things that are as much fun as watching my birds learn to chase down the "flying " meal worms!! The most fun is when the first 2 or 3 birds arrive
at the colony, and they can prove that they are "MY" Martins returned from the Amazon by showing their learned behavior of catching flipped meal worms from the year before!! (especially when they catch the first meal worm that heads toward them, showing that they have not forgotten what you taught them last spring when they were close to starving to death.
Keep taking care of those early arrivals with your supplemental feeding! You are saving birds lives!!!
Mike "Bird" Wren
Athens, Ohio
Great to see all the interest and the need for supplemental feeding that has helped others to learn how to be successful over the past couple of years. Luckily, us northern yankees up in Ohio do not have to worry about the feeding methods everyone is sharing on the forum just yet !! Our birds are still approx a month away. That can change as the weather changes, but it is better to get stocked up earlier than to get caught with not enough food inventory! I have learned over the years to order 4 to 6 thousand of the Giant meal worms & some crickets before the birds have been traced crossing the Ohio River heading north! Great to see that my LSU and Burrow fans are taking care of their early arrivals in cold and wet weather!! "Who Dey??"
As you get your birds trained to understand what you are doing with the large white plastic serving spoons.......adding platform feeding can make the task much easier.!!
My Bluebirds that have a trail of houses down in the large field below my main Martin Colony can help teach your martins not only how to catch the flipped meal worms, they can also show your martins the other learned behaviour of feeding off the platforms.! I have a couple of the Troyer feeding platforms mixed in between my Colony Towers.
I can't think of too many things that are as much fun as watching my birds learn to chase down the "flying " meal worms!! The most fun is when the first 2 or 3 birds arrive
at the colony, and they can prove that they are "MY" Martins returned from the Amazon by showing their learned behavior of catching flipped meal worms from the year before!! (especially when they catch the first meal worm that heads toward them, showing that they have not forgotten what you taught them last spring when they were close to starving to death.
Keep taking care of those early arrivals with your supplemental feeding! You are saving birds lives!!!
Mike "Bird" Wren
Athens, Ohio
Mike "Bird" Wren