Purple Martin Forum

I miss them too! Great memories with some of the best people!

I hear ya lol! They do find it.........maybe slowly. Ha! Our 20 year old (born farmer) is farming with his dad although he did go work outside the farm a while. Currently he farms and on off days (when he can't farm) he works at local farm coop. Sounds like you all are doing well and happy to hear it.

Hi friend..............how are you? Hope you, family, and martins are well!!! Kids are grown here and we have one beautiful granddaughter now. She's jut coming up on a year old.

Yahoo............martin arrived 2 days ago. That matches 2016 for earliest arrival date. Warm temps and strong winds had something to do with it I'm sure. But now time to watch out as weather not that great. Lovely to see again though!!

I had a VERY early female (Mar. 12).....at least it seemed early as far as reports were going. She took me by surprise since I had been looking at the scout report and they were all well south of me. But she was not so early compared to other years for me. She was all alone for some days and then a ...

I was surprised too, Gene. She is only 45 minutes from you. Last year, I had my first on the 13th and that is within typical.........only most reports are south of here right now with all the cold we've had. But she is here in all her glory.........3 kids and I stood in the yard to cheer her arrival...

Wishing you the best, Tim. I will keep my fingers crossed. I know how much you want them and they would be in the best of hands.

Sure thought mine would be later since reports for Kansas just got started. But lo and behold......a beautiful female is here. Yahoo........love the first sighting.

I lowered my systems today to see if I had any dead. I was flinging but not all were partaking. I have 50+ martins and I found one male dead. Not bad. They are all gone trying to find food. If they come in early enough, I will scramble some eggs.

Keep trying the flinging. When they are hungry they will catch on. Usually, it takes just one and the others catch on. This weather is not good. I have been flinging crickets and eggs. Also leaving eggs out there for them to try and feed from a platform. Platform feeding saves them a lot of energy b...

I think the cold spell held them back.......and that was a good thing. The gates have opened now. I have around 40 martins right now here in northeast Kansas.

Hey Tim....I have trained my martins in the past to take crickets that I flung and then switched over to eggs. I also was able to get them to come to the feeder platform. I wanted to reinforce that this year before we might have any bad weather. It has been so so feeding since I got them and they re...

As of this morning.....I have added one female for the male I had. I am thankful that two is all I have. The forecast isn't good. I plugged the drain holes in the gourd they are occupying and put in more shavings. I have hand warmers on hand but am more worried about whether or not they will remembe...

Thanks all! He was flying high and enjoying the warm weather yesterday. I could hear him like crazy sounding like they do when there is a female around. Saw 3 flying but didn't see them dart in last night so don't know if they are all mine or not.

Thanks.

Hi back at ya, Tim!! Thanks and I truly hope you get martins again!!

Earliest arrival for my colony yet beating my earliest date by 2 days. This male arrived while it was below freezing and looked a little droopy. Was gone all day out finding food I am sure. Expecting a warm up for a couple of days so he should find something to eat. I am ready to feed him and any ot...

Thinking of you, Steve, and so sorry this has happened!!

Connie.......I am in the NE part of Kansas. I got my first martins back about 8 days earlier than ever. There was a normal flow of one or two each day until that cold spell and then the migration stalled. After that they *poured* in and I have more back this time of year than last and am almost comp...

I went from 12-14 last Friday to over 30 yesterday. I couldn't count last night with the hail and storms. Pretty amazing the *volume* of these birds............LOVE IT!!