Baby birds leaving gourds early
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
I would not place them into the gourds at night, the adults may leave or possibly abandon your site. I would wait until daylight, keep them in a box in your house overnight.
They should be put into the correct gourd, or a gourd where the babies are the same age. That can be a tricky situation, and if you put them into the wrong gourd, the babies in that gourd may starve if the replacement is too old, as the food will all go to the largest bird..Quite often more harm than good is done by putting them in a different nest. It works on a few occasions to put them into a different gourd, but usually it doesn't.
If you do nest checks regularly, your knowledge of their age is better, and your chances of success is better.
They should be put into the correct gourd, or a gourd where the babies are the same age. That can be a tricky situation, and if you put them into the wrong gourd, the babies in that gourd may starve if the replacement is too old, as the food will all go to the largest bird..Quite often more harm than good is done by putting them in a different nest. It works on a few occasions to put them into a different gourd, but usually it doesn't.
If you do nest checks regularly, your knowledge of their age is better, and your chances of success is better.
PMCA Member, 250 gourds, 6 poles, 2traps