Martins Eat From Bed & Breakfast!
From: Ken Kostka, PMCA, Edinboro, PA
Date: 5/07/02
Time: 12:02:23 PM
Comments
I was successful in training some of the martins at our colony site to take
mealworms right off of the Bed & Breakfast. I did this by tossing
the mealworms to the martins right above the B&B, so that the martins would
have to swoop above the B&B to catch the worms. (Our martins had been
taking tossed crickets & mealworms for several weeks). After two or
three consecutive days of tossing the mealworms right above the B&B, for
about 30-40 minutes each morning, a few martins started landing on the B&B
(which I had stocked with mealworms) and eating the mealworms right out of the
tray. It was great to see the martins gobbling down the worms during the
cold weather last week.
Ken Kostka, PMCA
(Photo
by James R. Hill, III)
Re: Martins Eat From Bed & Breakfast!
From: Mary Dawnsong - SE Michigan
Date: 5/07/02
Time: 3:37:48 PM
Comments
Hi Ken,
That's really useful info. I had imagined it would be necessary to do
something like that to get my colony eating from a platform. I have tried
tossing mealworms onto a picnic table when the birds were very hungry, but that
didn't work.
How large a colony do you think it is practiual to feed with the PMCA B&B?
It seems much smaller than the low-mouned star platform that Ed Donath uses.
After the hawk attack on my colony this year (while I was tossing crickets),
I've grown concerned about a low platform feeder. I like the height of
the B7B, but I'm concerned about the surface area.
Thanks, Mary
Re: Martins Eat From Bed & Breakfast!
From: Louise C, Edinboro, PA
Date: 5/07/02
Time: 4:03:26 PM
Comments
Mary,
The trays on the B&B are each 9 x 9 inches - that totals up to 324 sq inches of feeding area - but we never have seen more than 6 birds on the feeder at one time. We usually see a couple of birds on a tray at a time. The height of the feeder is nice - about 10 ft. We usually have 2-3 dozen pairs at this immediate location, which is right outside of our office, and I think the B&B could handle their feeding needs.
Immediate success feeding crickets from B&B raised feeder
From: Mary Dawnsong - SE Michigan
Date: 5/13/02
Time: 6:02:00 PM
Comments
My PMCA Bed and Breakfast raised feeder arrived this afternoon and I immediately assembled and erected it. The timing was perfect because my martins had started begging me to throw crickets. We're into a third day of cool, rainy, windy weather.
I filled the trays with chilled crickets and within a minute two martins were on the trays and feeding. The birds are catching on slowly and one at a time. Each bird initially seems rather startled that he can eat this way.
I've seen as many as a dozen birds on the feeder at a time, but it doesn't resemble a feeding frenzy the way it can when I'm tossing crickets. I am concerned that they won't all figure it out and some will go hungry. But I've already refilled the trays once and they're still eating.
By the way, this is instant success that I've worked all spring to achieve. My martins learned to eat tossed crickets a year ago. We've tossed over 10,000 crickets and thousands of mealworm since late March of this year. That doesn't mean that your martins wouldn't learn to eat from this feeder just as fast; martins learn quickly when they're starving.
The B&B is about 10' high with 4 feeder trays that raise with a rope and pulley. It has perching rods above the trays. It took me about 45 minutes to assemble and erect. It appears to be solidly constructed and is very easy to use.
Order a Bed & Breakfast online!
I'm going to mix mealworms with the crickets and try to slowly get them to accept cooked egg pancake strips.
Mary Dawson
Feeding Martins - going from insects to eggs
From: Louise C, Edinboro PA
Date: 5/13/02
Time: 12:47:18 PM
Comments
They say that every cloud has a silver lining - well, this fairly crummy weather that the midwest has had lately has a silver lining - it's the perfect opportunity for training the martins to take thrown food, or to eat from a platform. It's been 11 days since the martins here at the PMCA first ate mealworms from the Bed & Breakfast platform, a transition that took us from throwing crickets and mealworms into the air, into just placing the food in the trays. Now we are trying to make the next transition - We are supplying them with a mixture of mealworms and egg pancake strips, hoping to train them to eat the egg, which is less expensive and more readily available than the mealworms, which the martins devour in quantities. The egg pancake is cooked as advised by Ed Donath of Arlington Hts, IL (a PMCA Landlord of the Year) in a nonstick pan with no grease. The pancake is cut into strips about the size of a mealworm. So far we have offered egg on 3 days. We've seen a few birds pick it up, then drop it. One female may have eaten a few pieces - we're going to have to be patient and keep trying on this one. The Tree Swallows have also learned to take tossed insects and to come to the feeder.
Louise C
Scrambled Eggs and Martins
From: Edwin W. Donath - Arlington Heights, IL
Date: 5/16/02
Time: 5:23:13 PM
Comments
Scrambled Eggs and Martins
2002 is our 40th year hosting Martins, the 15th year we’ve supplied food for them, and the 10th year that the food has mainly been bite-sized cubes of scrambled egg every day the Martins are here. I estimate that 80 dozen chicken eggs will be consumed this year by our 18 pair of Martins and their young. Historically in our area a mild winter and record setting cold/wet spring is followed by punishing hot and dry days in late June and July. If so, they then will be consuming 2 ½ to 3 dozen eggs per day to supplement their meager supply of flying insects. To equal the calories in 3 dozen eggs you would need 7,200 large mealworms or 3,300 large crickets. It would be very expensive to feed worms or crickets daily in these quantities. Six week old crickets and giant (1&1/2") mealworms are the best choice for emergency feeding to starving Martins.
To make egg cubes, beat 3 eggs with a whisk and pour into an 8 inch anti-stick frying pan. Stir with a plastic spatula scraping the cooked egg off the pan and spreading it equally over the pan until it’s mostly cooked. Turn it over and press down hard with a pancake turner which forms a pancake of uniform thickness. Slice into ¼ inch strips and crosswise into ¼ inch cubes. Put the cubes in sandwich bags and refrigerate until needed (discard if not used in 36 hours). Don’t reuse the bags.
The method used to get Martins to eat the egg has been used by aviary owners for hundreds of years. To get a bird to eat an unfamiliar food, place it on top of the food it will eat. By chance the new food is taken and if palatable to the bird, it will be eaten. We first did this in 1993 and many of our birds preferred the egg over mealworms. When flying insects abound they are preferred over eggs. When no egg is taken the egg dries up into harmless rocks. This is why the only people food we supply is egg, though we have experimented with other foods which the Martins will take, it is too risky if the food spoils. We never put egg inside a nest box.
For more information on emergency feeding of Martins see Purple Martin Update, Articles in 9(1) and 9(4); for long term feeding information see Update 7(4) page 5 and 10(3) page 22.
Edwin W. Donath 1421 N. Chicago Avenue Arlington Heights, IL 60004 847-253-3998
PM's feeding on eggs at last
From: Louise C, Edinboro PA
Date: 5/21/02
Time: 1:34:03 PM
Comments
I've got to make this quick, but we ran out of mealworms this weekend - fed all we had on Sat, hoped the martins fed some on Sunday but not sure. For over a week we have been trying to get the martins to accept egg pieces.
Well on Monday, that's all we had to offer. Most of the day, the martins huddled on the shingled roof of PMCA and two next door houses, trying to stay warm. In mid-afternoon, we kept throwing pieces of egg - they'd take them, then spit them out. One or two of the martins on the feeder would take egg, most would not. As evening approached, finally, more of the martins began to eat egg - maybe they were desperate enough to eat it at last, with a very cold night approaching.
Once many birds showed a willingness to eat egg, we went into high gear, scrambled up 2 dozen and cut them into mealworm size strips, which the martins preferred over egg cubes. They liked us to toss the egg, but we also put it in the feeder, and what worked best, onto the shingled roof - they chased egg pieces all over the roof, and fought over the egg. After that we just kept scrambling eggs and feeding - the martins kept feeding until 9:15, and actually landed on the ground to eat dropped pieces that had fallen from feeder, roof, etc. They communally roosted in gourds.
This AM, we started feeding scrambled egg from 6:30 AM on, until our mealworms arrived in mid-morning. We plan to continue feeding egg as well, since they are still landing on the ground to pick up pieces of egg. We have gone through 4 dozen eggs and 2,000 mealworms since yesterday.
It will reach 50 today and we hope some will be able to feed - we have lost 6 martins that we know of and have collected 4 that were too weak to fly. Mortality reports are coming from IN, OH, PA, NY, Ontario, Quebec, plus a few from southern states as well. This has been a very sad and stressful time for many landlords - feeding crickets and other foods has doubtless saved many, many birds. Hang in there, everyone - the subbies are coming and will help us through.
Louise
Making My Day
From: Edwin W. Donath - Arlington Heights, IL
Date: 5/25/02
Time: 5:13:55 PM
Comments
Since the start of the cold/wet weather my 19 pair of Martins have been eating 18-20 chicken eggs per day which is about 40 K-calories per bird, more than enough to keep them in good health. The females that started their clutches before the bad weather are sitting tight. The first clutch should hatch sometime today. Although they were well fed the females that should have started clutches during the cold spell didn’t. Four days ago the cold moderated a bit and many of the birds flew to the Des Plaines River Valley during the afternoons. Yesterday they managed to bring back 2 SYF’s and a SYM, none of them from our colony. These youngsters were not in great shape. It was getting dark and I don't know where they spent the night. This a.m. I put out 4 scrambled eggs on my Orange Star Feeder and removed the rain roof so they could be seen from above; I’ve been using 3 glass dishes. 7-10 Martins were eating at a time and after a bit the SY’s also came down. They stood there watching the old timers eat and finally took a few awkward pecks themselves. By noon they were taking great gulps of egg cubes, Making My Day. [Please note: I have had my martins trained to eat from a feeder for many years. You must use crickets to train them.]
