6 inches of snow and cold blowing wind in North Texas!

Guest · Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:42 am

My only returning pair of Martins are shivering in the cold wind and 6 inches of snow that blew through the north Texas area here in McKinney. I haven't seen my Martins nor heard them. I wonder whether they have left and flown south to escape this weird weather for the first day of Spring or whether they are huddling in the bird house. There will not be any insects here now for the next week due to the cold and snow. What can they do? I don't have any mealworms because this just never happens but it did this year! Any other reports in the area as to what your Martins are doing to cope with this?

jerleen · Sun Mar 21, 2010 10:18 am

We live in Carrollton and we fed our martins crickets this morning and put handwarmers inside the gourds. They need warmth and food to survive. I know they were hungry because when we raised the gourds they came back and started to eat the crickets from the porches and tunnels.
Good luck.

teridickinson · Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:22 am

We got six inches here in Lucas as well.

Mine are still holed up but the sun is out so if they come out we will try to feed and maybe some handwarmers as well.

It's supposed to be sunny and 50 tomorrow so they should be able to feed over the lakes if nowhere else.

Might want to consider getting some crickets and throwing them in the freezer for future bad weather. Might now freeze again but last year we had rain and cool for several days in early May and we had used crickets during the heat wave both to feed the jumpers and help the parents that were trying to feed fledgelings.

Teri

Suzette McGowen · Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:36 am

Our houses had so much snow on them this morning. All the compartments were snowed over. John Miller had good advice on a thread, we waited until the snow stopped. We lowered the houses, brushed the snow off, we flung crickets, but no takers. They all seem bright and have energy. We placed some crickets on the porches and are hoping they eat them. They are staying in the compartments, I'm glad that they are conserving their energy. If they get out later today we will load the porches again and place some handwarmers in the compartments. Tomorrow should be warm enough for them to feed.

What with hawk attacks and this snow it has started off as a interesting season. Just hope it levels out, I can live without this much excitement!!

Guest · Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:41 am

Thanks for the encouraging words and advice! I'll head out this morning and see if I can buy some crickets and put them on the porches. Sun is out now and snow is melting so my hope is they will Spring back with warmer weather coming! Best of Luck to everyone!

jerleen · Sun Mar 21, 2010 12:25 pm

Good luck, you might want to freeze the crickets as they will jump from the porches. I froze mine and thawed them out. I just put the second batch of crickets out. They had eaten a lot of the first 200 we put out this morning. It was fairly warm inside with the handwarmers but we are headed out to get some more as it will be bitter cold tonight. Just want them to conserve their energy as tomorrow they should be able to feed if this crazy wind lays down.
We got three more birds today since yesterday, have 13 now and I hope they all eat well. I tried to fling some again and they did not react so just put them in the tunnels and they seem to eat from there.
Lets hope we get the sun and warmer weather like they are telling us. But I still will keep some crickets because we can get days of rain in the spring and that will be bad for them again.

Guest · Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:51 pm

Why wouldn't you have any insects for a week? It does not take a week for insects to hatch or come out of dormancy after snow and cold weather. Is it suppose to snow and be in the thirties for the rest of the week? Not the forecast I saw for the majority of Texas. Healthy martins can weather crappy weather better than you think. They put up with a heck of a lot worse weather here in Wisconsin for a lot longer periods of time to. Your martins will be just fine. If you feel you must then put out some eggs and maybe some meal worms or crickets and throw some hand warmers in the houses and you'll be good to go. You live in Texas, in a day or two it will be back in the 50's,60's or 70's and insects will be plentiful.

teridickinson · Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:52 pm

I'll head out this morning and see if I can buy some crickets and put them on the porches.

Buying a few retail is good for an emergency like this, but they are a lot cheaper online, for future reference.

Teri

geezer · Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:51 pm

Lots of snow in Anna also...but the PM's are OK. Two days of bad weather won't hurt them. They have been well fed. They were flying around enjoying themselves this morning.

It will be 60 degrees plus tomorrow.

I really worried about them last year when we had 3-4 days of chilly, wet, overcast weather, but it turned out OK.

geezer

Everyone pray for our country.

Guest · Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:35 pm

Yea Geezer, it is getting better as the day wears on and tomorrow will be much warmer. I have seen them going in and out of the birdhouse and the male on top of the birdhouse. After tonight with the weather warming up it looks like they will be ok. Thanks for everyone's thoughts!

shiner · Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:42 pm

old bird, I sent you a message regarding a good place to pick up crickets and figured why not share the info with the rest of the folks on here.

If you live anywhere around McKinney there is a place off of hwy 380 just east of Mckinney in the Bridgefarmer Center called Reptile Vendor. He sells boxes of 1000 for $30 tax included. A lot cheaper than the pet stores.

Linda Reynolds · Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:45 pm

shiner, please at least call Hurst-Young Crickets at 1-800-669-7304 and ask about their pricing. (Speak with Susan, and tell her you are a purple martin person).

1,000 crickets are available for $11.50 + shipping, and their shipping is very reasonable. I doubt that they would cost you $30.00.

Their quality is good and 3/4 grown to 1" size is good for martins and other birds.

I do not see where you are located, and they cannot ship to TN, but they can ship to all other states. I am sure you will get a better price even considering the shipping.

***I forgot to add*** having one or two thousand crickets in your freezer, ready to be thawed is a lot more economical and easier than trying to find them and paying high prices when an emergency hits your area. Order and store them in the freezer. Remember, if you do not use them for martins, other birds such as Bluebirds, wrens and others will enjoy them if you do not wish to store.

Linda Reynolds · Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:50 pm

I order our mealworm from Nature's Way in Ohio. I just ordered 5,000 so I had enough on hand to immediately feed and enough left over to enhance our meal worm ranch. The total order for 5,000 medium (the only size that they sell) came to $26.00.

In one week the medium sized worms are now large. I like to order them on the smaller side because I do not want them immediately turning into beetles.

Their products are quality, shipping is great. Google Nature's Way and investigate their prices. Order by phone, (1-800 number is available) as shipping is cheaper.

shiner · Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:59 pm

Thanks Linda,
I will definitely check them out

Suzette McGowen · Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:35 pm

Shiner she is right, Hurst Young is great to work with. I just ordered more after our snowy weekend. Found out that you can increase your order and the shipping is almost the same as it is for 1000. I ordered 2000 & she said the shipping would just be pennies more. Last year we needed crickets for our fledglings, so it is a good idea to have them on hand.