Purple Martin Forum

No expert on this, but wondering if this nestling experienced trauma to its eye, from being pecked, hence the crusty area near its eye. Do you have a "prognosticator" to check the babies growth and see where it is on weight? I would do supportive care...feeding crickets as often as it &quo...

I had a healthy looking set of 5 nestlings, newly feathered out. I changed their nest box the other night...counted 5, took some pics. They had mites, not bad. Did a normal nest change, added small amount of sevin in their new pine needle nest and put them up for bed. This afternoon, there is only 4...

Hi all...I had 3 babies born on nest check on 5/27. There were 4 on nest check on 5/29. On 6/2 did another nest check and noticed one of the chicks was definitely smaller than the rest. Started supplementing some crickets yesterday, keeping this one in the nest. None of the chicks have feathers or o...

Concerning "rat shot"- what kind of collateral damage? If the sparrow is close to a gourd or another bird, how far away does objects/birds have to be from your target. How big a spray does rat shot do? I've use winchester hollow points, but you are right, if you miss, you never seem to get...

Can't wait...can any one say "Pee Wee?" ha ha!!

Hi Nikki! Love your pic! This morning, had one pair in one of my gourds. Tried to entice them with crickets but they flew up high, circled around, gave their wonderful chortle and off they went. They'll be back. Put some more pine needles in their gourd to bed them down warmer tonight, and a couple ...

Looking forward to seeing pics once its all up!

What a wonderful sound to hear again, Louise! We are still 6 weeks away and I am happy about that. I worry every spring about weather that does not cooperate for our dear babies.

Hi all! Any ideas of what I can use on the old nature guards to protect against wing entrapment? Have crescent openings. Any pics are helpful for me. Thanks again.

Only thing I could critique is the trees do provide a place for hawks and owls to spy on your flock. You do have good distance though for a warning to your PM's. You will just have to watch out during the season to see whats up. My main house is over 100 feet away...probably more like 250. Some tree...

Great site. Looks like you may not have to many problems with sparrows! How lucky your flock it! Best for 2018.

I sent out a flyer to our neighbors about how to help our native species. We have quite a few neighbors who live on 2 and 5 acres lots with abandoned aluminum martin houses that I see purple martins circling, maybe some have nested. But I see those HS also going in and out and it makes me sick to th...

How late are martins in the United States. Saw many chimney swifts circling high overhead. Heard their voices and then saw them. I thought they were gone also. Maybe they were passing through.

I still have one more rack up here in Washington Mo. Haven't seen any martins for quite awhile. I guess migration is still taking place. Thanks for the input. I'll wait alittle longer.

Good Point, Louise on placement of the owl gourds. I too have the two arms that come over the front of the gourds. I don't think I ever noticed how close they are to the porches. I see yours leaves lots of room. I will have to see if I can adjust that on my rack. I also have another old rack that ha...

Thank you again for this beautiful memory of the "Rocky family". I learned so much from experiencing PM lives from the "inside." I'm sharing this with my friends on FB-it really touches hearts. A lovely way to spread PM awareness.
Cindy N.

I have been looking to expand my housing and happened to read that you should take down the poles and arms each fall for storage. I always did the gourds, but didn't know about this...also waxing the pole and oiling the pully. So my question is, do all you landlords take down your poles? That would ...

I've had 1 baby left out of 5 who hadn't fledged yet. The earliest day to fledge for the group of 5 was July 21. He's been hanging out the door last two days and parents been around. Everyone else has fledged from the whole group...I had 106 successful babies and am going out of town so I was anxiou...

I've always been wary of using the ice paks until the little ones have feathers. I would watch for lethargy in them. if they get dehydrated, you can paint their beaks with a little sugar water-use a soft brush around their mouth and they will respond to that. Lets pray this hot weather breaks soon.

Last year, I had fledglings 2nd week of August. They all made it out, had me worried. Hopefully they will be ok.