could the heat have killed them?

14 years ago

we have been having 100* or more for what seems like weeks on end. my second nesting took place in a nest box out in front, in the wide open field. i put an umbrella over it for shade but the 4 hatchlings died off one by one at only a few days old.

they are now building in the back yard nest box where their first brood of 4 fledged successfully.

could the heat have killed the babies? i'm at a loss, they seemed very healthy the first 2 or 3 days. :(

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Comments (7)

Lexarose
14 years ago
Gosh ninapearl that is awful, I guess it's possible. Mine are in the open also but it hasn't quite gotten to 100 here yet. I'm afraid to go check on all the babies but i must. Maybe someone can answer better. So sorry....
dzyg
14 years ago
Sometimes in this really hot weather the bugs get pretty scarce...perhaps the adults couldn't find enough food. Does your box have good ventilation? I have heard of other having nestlings perish in this heat so it is possible but you would think with you shading it that, that would have helped. Do you feed mealworms at all? So sorry this has happened!!

Donna
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skin, I think you are right. I bought a cheap infrared heater for my bedroom and flipped the whole system off (to top it off it has one of those crappy 80s mastertrol zone systems with the gold dial) used 10kwH/day, turned it back on yesterday thermostat on 64, granted it was very cold here yesterday, in the 30s, I used 130KwH!!!! The mastertrol panel is going, I have ordered a honeywell hz311 to replace it bc the thing is just pure nonsense and confusing. When I rewire that I am going to open the air handler and make sure all of the connections coming out (and going to the zone panel/thermostats) are right. Maybe I will luck out and they just screwed up and put a wire on an auxiliary heat resistor that should be on regular heat... Or maybe this confusing piece of crap from 1981 is messed up and it is calling for auxiliary heat when it should be calling for regular heat... My question is. If I am indeed constantly using the strip heat, what is missing for the "normal" heat pump heat? As I mentioned I know very little about these systems, don't they run the outside compressor in reverse for heating to pull the cold out or something? My 2017 compressor is capable of doing that, right? I mean I have all the equipment for this to work, it's just wired and slapped together piss poorly is what your'e saying? Or, am I missing some other component that they neglected to save money? If my rewiring of the zone controls and thermostats makes no difference, how expensive of a repair am I looking at to get the heat pump to actually pump heat?
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Ninapearl
Original Author
14 years ago
yes, the box is well ventilated and in fact, i drilled extra ventilation holes around the top right before they nested in this box.

i do feed freeze dried mealworms. however, these babies were still too small for them or for live mealworms, for that matter. i don't think there's a shortage of bugs around here. i often see the blues diving to the ground for bugs.

i'm sure by the time the nest is finished and she is ready to lay, there will be a break in the heat. if not, i intend to pack up the dogs and the pot bellied pigs and we are heading to alaska!!
Lexarose
14 years ago
This infernal heat wave is supposed to be ending soon thank goodness. Alaska sounds delightful about now. Just wondering about the mealworms, is it possible there's not enough moisture in the freeze dried unlike fresh? But it sounds like the parents were'nt feeding the worms yet. I don't know anything about mealworm feeding, it's the ONLY thing I don't do for these birds. Sounds like you were doing everything right for your birds.
out_about
14 years ago
I am so sorry to hear that! I have 2 nests hatched, one is bluebirds about 5 days old now, the other is tree swallows about 8 days old. We have had scorching heat of 100s upper 90s degrees over the last 2 weeks here in CO, albeit it is bone dry heat. I was pretty worried. I put "heat shield" with ice pack in it on top the nestboxes, white paper on the side of the boxes. I do feed mealworms to BB twice a day. Both nests are doing great, babies seem thriving, keeping my fingers crossed.
lisa11310
14 years ago
Nina.....what about the goats? : )
Ninapearl
Original Author
14 years ago
teehee, lisa! i don't have the goats anymore. i re-homed them with a friend who has them on 30 acres of lush pasture. they are in goat heaven! they just got to be too much work for me and the two boys i had would NOT stop ramming me in the back. my spinal surgeon would not have been happy with that!

funny though...i was raiding grackle nests and giving the eggs to my pot bellied pigs. they LOVED 'em!

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could the heat have killed them?

Comments (7)

Lexarose

dzyg

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could the heat have killed them?

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Lexarose

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