Purple Martin Forum

Mark, Several individuals explained to me that heating houses would do no good as long as I was supplementary feeding. I felt it would do no harm either and excitedly went ahead with the modifications. With a colony the size I have and being retired I can observe the nuances going on in my colony. I...

Sue P
Glad the worst is over for you. Your story really caught my attention. Brought back some memories to me. The Hummers are unique and can do things the martins are not capable of doing. Hummingbirds are capable of dropping their body temperature and overall metabolism overnight.
Paule

I put Sevin dust in the cavities prior to the return of my Martins. I like them to be flea and mite free soon after they arrive. Early in the season I can tell which ones are staying the night and which ones have just arrived or are visiting. The new arrivals and visitors are always scratching. As ...

I think some sort of heating is a good idea. However the hand warmers are only good for a few hours, even though they say 10 hours. Hot water bottles (if you happen to have 12 or 15 lying around) also cool off. I used a lot of cedar shavings and pine straw, but it didn't seem to matter. It has been...

Hi Steve, Congratulations on your colony. Keep up the good work! We offer both crickets and eggs both being flipped with a spoon as well as on the feeder. The day it rained the birds went to their cavities wet and the temperature drop had my concern. When we lost our colony it was the hens that peri...

Easter Sunday In the middle of Iowa we had a high of 43°f. Yesterday and today we had a high of 39° totaling 3 days. Without the magic number of 50° and no large bodies of water around, supplemental feeding is a must. We will not see 50° for another 3 days. Lost our colony years ago with cold rainy ...

Lets try this again.

Here is a picture I took Easter Eve this year with three Purple Martins flying over the rainbow.

I thought I'd post it in a new thread in hopes more people would see this important tool. Brad, Years ago I read about the "Lewis Mod". I can not remember if I first read it here or on the Purple Martin Update. I must say I was skeptical. I had 6 Troyer vertical gourds hanging under a housing compl...

In Iowa and tuffer than me! I saw my first ASY male on the porch of a Trio today. He had not triggered the camera due to all the ice. I went out to remove the plugs. This took a long time as the pole on the Trio Grampa had Ice on it that needed to be removed so I could lower the house. As he patient...

:| Back to the title of this post, In ALL my landlording years, I've Never had a P.M who would wait for me to dive directly at my face & get closer Every Day, Like this ASY Male P.M who perched on top of pole #1. The last time he did it I could have reached out & grabbed Him ! I've never seen an ope...

I now have four mother birds killed on their nest, totally eaten up stomachs, no idea what’s going on. This is just crazy, all my birds being killed and house is covered in martins. Can’t solve the problem if I don’t know what’s happening. rrmartins I feel your pain and the solutions can be complic...

Doug I have had a bird for 5 years that would hover in front of my face and "chortle" upon returning and just hover in my face whenever food was in short supply. That bird probably had more to do with teaching the rest of the flock to feed than I did. Your statement about your hen, "she turned into ...

At 8:30 this morning I went outside and spotted a Purple Martin sitting on the top bar of a lowered Trio Grampa. I removed the pool noodles from the crescents and raised the house. Went inside to grab crickets and eggs. Back out and started flipping. He would not take any crickets but immediately to...

Looks like their off and running, to put it in horse racing terms. I just noticed there are to 2 scout reports for Iowa, and 1 is almost clear to I-80. I guess I'll do my best to get my site put together and erected tomorrow. I just new this is what would happen. Our weather is so strange anymore. ...

So thankful this is over. Gives me an appreciation of what all you folks up north go through. Sharon Sharon congrats on doing a good job and thank you! Some of those birds could end up at our colony. Many of the birds I supply heat and food for are traveling north of me. I'm no scientist but common...

Bob Flam
I found the clip...enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_R6qyOM5a8

Paule

Bob Flam wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:45 pm

I was wondering if that groundhog saw it's shadow back at the beginning of February

I saw on the news they arrested that ground hog and toted it off to jail!

Hey Birdguy, I tried this back in the day. A pinch of Sevin and installed complete old nest into several cavities. I had a friend do the very same thing last year. I can still remember his call that morning describing how disgusting it was! :shock: Last year he got more visitors but no nesting. Hope...

Below picture shows a cold, windy and snowy April 15th 2018. Three birds waiting to be fed. One decoy used mainly as my early warning system and to give Martins a chance to escape from danger above. Ed's comment was interesting to me. As I remember, I didn't have much luck getting the martins to use...