Jumper Thoughts and Questions

[avesrun]

I'm wondering about possible alternatives to helping save jumpers that are are 27 days old or more or maybe even a day or two younger. Rather than place them back into a gourd or house I recall reading where some landlords place them into a sort of holding platform of sorts. Is anyone out there doing this? I've thought of making something that could be placed on the pole under the housing as close to the cavity or gourd as possible that would have maybe 6" or so high sides that parent birds could still feed the young until they are ready to go. Again, this would mostly be for older age young within a day or two of flight. Wondering if it would work or if adding such a thing would would spook parents from approaching the rack. I would use some sort of harware cloth holding or other material that's pretty open but designed not to allow for any wing damage or entrapment to the fledglings and would have high enough sides that they would have to work pretty hard to get out of. Any thoughts on this or has anyone had success with something similar? I'm also thinking that one major problem would be what to do overnight as this woud leave fledglings vulnerabel to owls and also hawks by day but just brainstorming and overthinking as usual here as I usually do. Thank you.
TimG

[taxidermy lady]

Tim there's a u tube video that shows a box on a feeder and they place jumpers in it for the parents to feed.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla ... u8gXp24wp4

[avesrun]

Sharon thanks for posting that link. I will definitely have something similar in place for next season. I was planning to make a different feeding tray anyway. Sounds like jumpers more commonplace than I was thinking so yet another of the many concerns that a landlord needs to be prepared for. I try to think on the positive side of things and one thing about nest checks,changes, and jumpers is that I think they all help by establishing that human/martin relationship with Martins at an early age. Thanks again.
TimG

[1 Ron Vasser]

If you have owls they'll thank you for every martin you put on a platform and tell their buddy's where they're dining. I've put them back in the nest a day before they're ready to fly, stick a sock in the entrance with a string tied to it and pull the string after 20 minutes.

[Chris B]

The jumpers I put in gourds seem to stay there, at least for the time I am watching. I think they are hit and miss on being fed unless you can place them with birds about their age.

My last 3 barnies (2nd batch this year for that nest) fledged yesterday so my season is about done. It was a pretty rough one for the weather, both cold and hot.

[Dave Duit]

Hi Tim,
The platform is called a fallout shelter. I built one and used it the first year with a little success. As you know, my gourd rack and fallout shelter are completely enclosed within an owl cage. But, I have found that the jumpers do better when placed in a nest with only a few babies and that they are very closely matched with age of the nestlings. If you put an older jumper in with younger nestlings it will dominate the entrance and consume all the bugs the adoptive parents bring in, leaving the nestling with less food and greater chances of starvation. If your lucky enough to get the baby back into its original nest that is ideal, but some colonies are very large and when they start to fledge it gets tough. A pair of adults with a jumper added to their nest with similar aged nestlings will sometime adopt and feed the jumpers as if it were their own. Purple martin parents will not feed the young when on the ground and it will more than likely die from starvation, dehydration or predation.

[lynnh]

Hey Tim,i have had some success with a gourd on a shepards hook.