Hello Everyone,
Always exciting each season observing "events' as they occur in your colony - like first birds sighted, then a dozen, perhaps the first subbies, etc. An event I anticipate is "first birds to ground". I say this to myself with the thought in mind that this may be the onset of nesting. My colony has grown to where I can't count numbers (too many) and my records show "birds to ground" earlier in previous seasons but I did see three martins fly up from the ground straight to the gourds today, the first time. I dropped Rack #1 and inspected the 12 lower of the 24 gourds and six had leaves and some had leaves and pine needles. I'll have eggs soon and my weekly count will kick off.
Here's to all you landlords - "Have a Happy and Successful 2025 Season"
Mike
Nesting has begun
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mjfog
- Posts: 393
- Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 3:40 pm
- Location: Palm City, FL
- Martin Colony History: 2018 will be my first try. 6 S&K B09s. 29 eggs - 8 fledged
2019 - 12 Troyer Horizontals with tunnels, 6 S&K B09s and 12 B011s all with tunnels. 43 eggs - 36 fledged
2020 - Rack 1 - 6 B011s, Rack 2 - 24 B011s, and Rack 3 - 24 Troyer Horizontals. All gourds have tunnels, porches and crescent/Conley 11 entrances; racks have predator guards. 161 eggs - 88 fledged.
2021 - 54 gourds-214 eggs, 184 hatched, 168 fledged.
2022 - 3 racks of 24 gourds. 363 eggs, 294 hatched, 278 fledged.
2023 - 3 racks of 24 gourds. 321 eggs, 276 hatched, 246 fledged.
2024 - 3 racks of 24 gourds. 330 eggs, 283 hatched, 250 fledged.