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Suppose to be super hot next couple days. Heat index about 106, prob be humid too. Anybody have experience with this type of heat?
Hatchlings are 5 days old so not regulating heat yet, so that has to be good right?
My box is pretty well ventilated. Attached pic. 4×4 board on top keeps it shaded hottest part of the day. Four holes on bottom, slit along top above hole and under roof. I two holes upper back part of both sides, only one in pic I added another below. Plus I put a piece of styrofoam on the whole left side and whole front below the hole where the sun hits it in morning and afternoon.
I keep my bird baths cold and have some hornworms in fridge chilling to help them out, maybe cool them down some.
Dave, looks like your heat shield should help in that extreme heat – main problem I see is the box is mounted on a wooden pole – this is a no-no for future nests. Snakes, critters, cats, etc. can climb that pole easily and get at the birds. Best to mount it on a slick pole which needs to be heavy enough to withstand winds. Check out the http://www.sialis.org website for information on this. With brush close to the box there will undoubtedly be all kinds of critters nearby. However in looking further the box might not be as close to the brush as the picture appears.
Best of luck.I hear ya. It’s pretty much by itself I’m the middle of a field in my side yard. It’s closer to my house than the tree line you’re seeing. I’ve been here for 10 years and never had issues with snakes or cats. I’m in a pretty rural area. I was thinking about changing it or making some guard around the pole. Maybe I’m the fall. I’m way more concerned about the heat right now.
Dave, we’re into some heat this weekend, too. I don’t have a heat shield set up because I have never had blues nesting this time of year–but this year I do! And of course they chose the sunniest box. So I quick jerry-rigged a heat shield using spacers, a styrofoam cooler lid, and a bungee cord. The male remains suspicious of it (altho’ he has flown to the house hole), but the female took to it easily and popped into the box. I plan to cobble together a nicer heat shield set up for future, just in case. Lesson learned! Of course, it’s also never this hot here!! We should have hatching in the next day or two–4 eggs in this nest. Our heat breaks Monday night, so I’ll take this down then, just in time for feeding babies…
Hope they are doing good with the heat, Julie. Whatever works as a heat shield will do imo. They don’t care what it looks like. I have a big Tupperware lid I use for one. Works great. I use a lot of styrofoam I get from packaging.
Got a pic of them. Hard to tell if their mouths are open. I’m sure they are; it hit 100 degrees. They don’t look too uncomfortable and have been getting fed by adults all day.
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