New Landlord

TammyK · Wed Jun 11, 2014 6:49 pm

I'm a new landlord and I'm having trouble with identifying the age of my martins . In 1 gourd I have 3 eggs hoping for 4 today and in another gourd 2 eggs hoping for 3 .If the birds are young do they have successful hatching's ?

taxidermy lady · Wed Jun 11, 2014 7:34 pm

That's super Tammy! The one is ASY male! He is the all black one! The other can not tell with unclear picture, but who cares just be super happy you have them. Good Luck with them!

welcome it is fun to learn on here, great info.

Trishy · Fri Jun 13, 2014 6:09 pm

One year I had an sy pair that nested late, and their 2 babies died. Last year I had 4 sy pair that all successfully fledged their babies. Ya just never know.

TammyK · Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:13 pm

Was having good luck 3 pair had laid eggs in the gourds.2 pair in the house had laid eggs.was gone for 2 days came back had my hubby lower the gourds because i had surgery a couple weeks ago and i lowered the house first its lighter!
Well i found a dead martin in the nest and and egg broke on the porch.on the other side there was also a egg on the porch broke.i was so upset i cleaned up the broken egg on both sides and left the other eggs in nest wasn't sure what to do.should i clean out both nests it looks like the martins are still going in them.
Then on the gourds i have 6 gourds 3 with lg hole 3 starling resist everything looked good.quite awhile ago a pair had built a nest in one of the gourds couldn't figure out why they left it under further investigation there was an egg shell way in the front under the straw so something must have happened in there early on and i didn't know it.We don't have starlings around here but sparrows we do not have very many.i did mange to catch 2 in the trap i made.Also the martins have put lots of hay in the nest is that ok or should i pull a little out i don't want it to get damp from rain?
I don't know what to think of it???

TammyK · Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:21 pm

Can anyone help!☺?

taxidermy lady · Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:35 pm

Well Tammy I do not have any martins but I have read enough on this forum that could be snake, owl, hawk ect. Do you have any type of predator guards. Once something gets a taste they won't stop until they are all gone. Put a flashing light of some sort at night. I have heard of that. I am very sorry. You have to look for feathers to. Investigate the situation thoroughly. So sorry, buy some bird netting and get it on those poles!

taxidermy lady · Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:46 pm

I ca not say what you should do with the other eggs. Maybe Louise will get on and tell you! Those starlings are mean too! With eggshells still there may be a starling

TammyK · Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:50 pm

thank you Sharon☺
I have baffles on both poles
it seems the house got hit harder its older with smaller nests my gourds actually didn't get this trouble because I have tunnels on the front.but as i was investigating i found a shell in an abandoned gourd I think it was a sparrow in that early on. A friend gave me the house i'm planning on modifying it next year didn't think of this year I feel so bad for that
martn it was my fault

taxidermy lady · Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:53 pm

Ah honey you cannot be there all the time. It is part of nature. Just do your best to save the others. You want to fledge some babies so you will have them return next year.

TammyK · Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:37 pm

right now i have one with 5 eggs 3 eggs and 2 eggs all gourds
in the house both nests got hit i left the eggs and they have martins going in and out so not sure whats going on there but if it was dad that died maybe no hope for that one? I'm central standard about 930 here they all came back just a little bit ago and are visiting.the 3 gourds that had holes now are covered and i opened up the starling entrance after this happened to my house didn't take too long a couple hours and they were going in and out of the new openings these 3 gourds just happened to have two holes.my other 3 only have starling resist.i might try the fence guard thats on the site for the house and hook it with paper clasps ?

TammyK · Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:44 pm

Sharon I've never seen a starling here strange! nobody else has either.
We do have them in town lots.

taxidermy lady · Wed Jun 18, 2014 5:27 am

Hi Tammy I go to bed early and up early. Just do what you feel will help your situation. It is hard to take. As long as whatever destroyed the eggs and killed your martin does not return! That's what you have to try to prevent. The starlings are scared of me. I shoot at them when they come around. Lately they do not stick around long enough for me to grab the gun.

With the martin dead and not eaten, eggs broken, that is something just being a bad and wanting to destroy not eat. I have read a lot of stories about starlings. They will rip the nest to heck to.

Hopefully the other martin at that nest was the female to hatch the eggs. Males do not have a brood patch to do that. Most crimes that happen at a site is when your not around.

Do your best!!!

DornCounty · Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:52 am

Tammy I had never seen a starling in my rural yard prior to putting up my repeating trap and have caught 99 in a little over 2 years of trapping. They are basically everywhere.

Do you have any nests other than martin nests in your house?

TammyK · Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:26 am

[/quote]Do you have any nests other than martin nests in your house?

No just the nest on the other side it also had an egg rolled out and broken!

taxidermy lady · Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:55 am

Thanks Dorn county for helping out!

TammyK · Wed Jun 18, 2014 12:52 pm

im going to make a trap for starling too now thank you Dorn county
what do they like to eat i know sparrows like bread what did you use for bait?

taxidermy lady · Wed Jun 18, 2014 2:27 pm

Dog food is good Tammy! Cheapest you can get! Through the winter birds look for food so the traps will be better then. That's when I catch the most in traps. I made my own. There is you tube videos that explain how to.

TammyK · Wed Jun 18, 2014 2:53 pm

which one did you make Sharon?

taxidermy lady · Wed Jun 18, 2014 3:01 pm

It is a repeating trap. You can find instructions on you tube. They have the starling trap to. They go in and can not get out. They keep going in when they see their buddies in there. Good luck!

looks like in your picture you have a nice trap. That will work!,

KathyF · Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:58 am

Hi Tammy,
I'm not sure where you're at in this whole process. So, I'll start at the beginning. First, leave all the martin eggs in place, especially if you see them going in & out. Second, it sounds like you've converted to the SREH (starling resistant entrance holes) - that's good; just because you haven't seen a starling doesn't mean they're not there. If the gourd is becoming stuffed with hay straw, it's likely NOT a martin that's packing it in there. It's either a starling or house sparrow.

Did your martin have any injuries on his head? If so, it was likely a starling - *maybe* a HOSP, depending on his position (ie, stuck in a gourd). Also, a young sub-adult male will break eggs....you could have all kinds of things going on there.

Lastly, yes, you need to invest in some traps - either building or buying. But you will need to monitor the traps, just in case you trap a native bird.

Starlings and house sparrows are more interested in nesting right now, so a nest-box trap is the best thing to use right now.