Managing Chicks

[C.C.Martins]

Newbie question; in the event (I hope) we get chicks is there anything that I should consider for their eventual need to poke a head or two from the nest?
I have excluder gourds crescent openings-the depth of nesting material is below the ramp to the fill line on the gourd Good enough? any experiences?
I also have SERH crescents on a house-any lessons learned, tips?

Looking ahead a lot but if I need to adjust now is the time, thanks for looking and Id appreciate any input/lessons learned.
Tom

[~Ray~Gingerich]

I fill mine with pine needles a little above the fill line on the sides and make a nest depression in the middle to the fill line

[DebA]

So exciting! That peeking out the entrance by babies is special for sure. I read that you modified and made your compartments bigger, that is excellent. I nest check frequently which looks like you are too. I offer crushed oyster shell. Some place on a platform feeder I just throw out on a bare spot on the ground nearby. I get it at a farm store. One in our town has the real deal oyster shell and the other store has fake or manufactured by rock. So read your package. While laying eggs this gives calcium to the female and really helped my eggs look thicker and less translucent. I noticed less House Sparrow dents or pokes after I started offering. Later, the parents feed the shell to their babies. Yum.

Let's see...this is controversial but I keep Seven Dust on hand. I will place a 1/4th teaspoon in the nest between the nest and the wall edge. Pre-emptively when I have nestlings to control mites. Or as soon as I see evidence of mites I get out the Seven and next day they are all gone. Some don't prefer chemicals so they do nest changes etc... But this is the way I have preferred. If you ever see babies with mites on them it looks awfully uncomfortable.

I learned about capped eggs on here. That is while hatching, a hatched egg shell may cover half of an unhatched egg. I have seen it once. If you do, remove that capped shell. I guess it stops air flow or something rendering the unhatched egg goners. Just something to glance at during a nest check.

I am in Kansas and some years we get drought years and high over a hundred temps. Which can lower the amount of flying insects. I keep dead crickets in my freezer. Besides the parents needing a meal I will pile crickets onto the porch near nest entrance and parents will take in a feed their babies. Just an extra supplement. I don't have to do that every year. TX certainly has had droughts but down where you are it might not be so bad. Being near water. IDK.

I also handle my babies. Look them over for mite or fly bites etc... I also feel like they get to know me and are "tame" -ish when they might return the next year. Probably just in my own head but hey I enjoy it. I have had to remove deceased babies from nests on occasion. It's sad when you drop the house and you get a faint smell of decomp and know what is coming. I have had a baby die and the other nestlings survive. So it's nice to keep their house fresh. I have successfully moved a non-thriving runt to another nest. I have found a smaller one that I believe the parents drag out of the nest or even onto the porch. I will replace and it was out again. So I placed it with a younger nest that wasn't overloaded with 5 or 6 babies. A good 3 or 4 nest is perfect. Within a few days it was being fed enough that I couldn't even tell which one it was. That is me messing with nature but I am proactive at trying to save as many as I can and accept the losses that it does and will happen.

Sheesh...I have gone on and on. But thank goodness for this forum because after all this is my favorite topic.

Good luck!
Deb

[C.C.Martins]

Deb, Ray,
Thanks! I look at those crescents/tunnels and wonder how they will manage on wobbly legs and that gourd looks steep but my gourds are consistent with Ray's advice. Nature will take over, I like what Deb said..."That is me messing with nature but I am proactive at trying to save as many as I can and accept the losses that it does and will happen". That's what we do by putting up houses in the first place.
Sevin dust-yes! had black gnats crawling everywhere last week; it killed them all. I love that stuff. Even the martins don't scratch as much.
As far as handling them-I have parrots, from the start they need to be socialized with manners, rules etc. It builds trust and they are happier. To an extent martins are the same, wild birds yes but they do depend on us.
Ill do all the rest as well, cant thank you enough for the time.
Tom

[Martinfarmer]

Thanks everyone, very good info for a beginner.