Sub Adult Pair no eggs

[DakotaLady]

Greetings,

I have had a sub adult pair here since May 21st. I just checked their gourd after work today and there are still no eggs. There are leaves in the gourd, as well as, some bird droppings (which I thought was strange), they are here off and on all day, spend the night and she sits in the gourd all morning.

Now, it has been cold, rainy and cloudy with only a handful of days which are nice, could this be the reason there are still no eggs? Is it possible she will not lay any eggs? I ask this because the weather forecasters are saying we are supposed to have rain, storms and clouds most of the summer this year.

Also, I have another sub adult male that hangs around. On occasion, during the one nice day of the week, he will bring a female and try to get her interested in the place. She has not stayed with him but he stays some nights and seems to spend some nights elsewhere. I sure hope he continues to try to bring in a female. But it is getting late already and I'm beginning to worry that I might not have any of the birds lay eggs. ARGH!

Any thoughts?

[AllenH]

I know it's getting late, but last year I had a Subbie pair just start building a nest on the 21 st. I have a couple of Subbies still finishing their nest today in the rain. I have had SY's in the past go through all the motions and not lay eggs also.

On monday I had 230 eggs/young and several nests just had 1 or 2 eggs. Apparently they are still laying. You still could be successful this year!

I put out crickets and mealworms this morning and many PM's were eating them and taking some to their young. They are out at the feeder right now waiting for more which are thawing now. Had to order more this morning. I could go broke just feeding them. Although this year hasn't been quite as bad as last year yet.

Don't give up hope yet.

[rehab]

#empty

[APB]

I did a nest check last night here in SE Michigan and low and behold 4 more eggs in a gourd that had previously been without. I figured one of the pairs had built two nest and this one was not occupied.

I think that if they are still bringing in green leaves, you still have a shot at eggs & babies!

Subies aren't the quickest at getting to work making a family. They are more interested in going out and hanging with their friends down the road or going to the mall. Sometimes it just "happens".

[DakotaLady]

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. We had a nice sunny day today for the first time in a long while. Tomorrow and the weekend are supposed to be filled with storms and rain and then next week is supposed to be nice the entire week. I hope with the nice weather coming up she will begin laying eggs.

Also, the female stopped bringing in leaves a couple weeks ago but has a fairly decent nest built. I'm really hoping it's weather related. Also, today that lone sub adult male kept bringing by several females. Sadly, none of them would land, they just flew around and looked things over really well. Hopefully, they too will come back.

Have a great weekend everyone.