Hummingbird Disaster

bubba-san

Well-Known Member
I had a sad experience with some poor little hummingbirds. My shop has 22 ft ceilings and sometimes birds come in and fly around but, they usually leave .


yesterday was different . At least 10 humming birds were flying all around my shop , apparently attracted by my Red riding mower . My wife and I tried for 6-7 hrs to get them out .


We tried all the tricks . They started dying from starvation , Hummingbirds can starve in an hr or less when its hot. We called some professionals that do this all the time .

They had some tricks they use using red flags , spotlights , shutting the doors except for 1 ft opening , waiving red flags nothing worked! the people we called said they had never seen anything like it ?

He suggested that we shoot them with bb gun or they will all starve and it would not be an easy death . I did not want to do it but, I had no choice . I even left shop doors open all night .

I went to shop this morning and half of them were dead ... the rest were very weak but, strong enough to fly away when you tried to grab them with long handled net .

I had to shoot the rest of them :sad: We got rid of feeders on the other side of building , threw them in trash . I am very sad about the whole deal . I said a prayer for the little birdies.....:sad:

Sad Bubba
 
I constantly have to monitor my wife and her H'bird feeders or she will leave them out until way to late into the fall. She doesn't believe me when I tell her they migrate and unless they start on time they will die before reaching their destination.
I've had a couple get into my shop (9 foot ceilings) and they sit on the tops of my fishing rods for a little while and then their gone when I look again....
 
We moved the feeders to the other side of Barn . I still don't know why they refused to go out the door . You are right its time to take them down . They used to come in all the time but, would soon leave .

The folks from Animal rescue said they have never seen that before ??? I left the doors open all night ... ??????
 
This is amazing, a bunch of big ole tuff knifemakers.. The guys that Cyrus Vance and others fear, morning over a few little birds.

I sure am glad to see that there are others, in addition to me, that will be morning tonight.

I hate it for you Bubba. I don't know how I could have handled it.
 
Very sorry that happened to you Bubba- I am same way about the small birds that we feed in the back yard. We have called in Animal Rescue over one sparrow and they drive 30 miles to our house to help us and give advice to nurse it back to health- that is caring.
 
Humming Birds come into the shop at the local Ford dealership and fly up into the beams. Like Bubba San they could not get them out so they got Humming Bird feeders, filled them and hung them inside the shop, near the doors. Now the birds are happy and there are no problems.

I wonder why your "Professionals" didn't think of this.
 
Last edited:
My Dad has the same problem with them. They seem to get disoriented inside the shop. I can't prove it, but fluorescent lights seem to screw up their sense of direction. Even with the big roll up door open they can't seem to figure out where to go.

Usually turning the lights out helps them calm down. After a while they usually see the daylight outside, but not always. The fix seems to be hanging a feeder from the pull rope on the door. They head for the feeder and then zip past it to freedom.

It's really sad to find them dying in the morning when you didn't know they got in before you closed up last night.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hello Wayne, They did exactly that , the birds would not come down from the 25 ft ceilings . They could not understand why ?? I mean we tried all kinds of tricks . they had several tools in their arsenal of tricks ...nothing worked

He seemed to think because the ceiling were so High they could not navigate them. they seemed disorientated and they were new hatchlings . Maybe that had something to do with that . the ( professional's) were from a state animal rescue center 2 of them were veterinarians who do these things all the time . They claimed they had never seen anything like it . there were 10 birds..... Bubba
 
We had that happen with two hummers in a screened in porch, It had a high pitched roof and they would not come down. We got a broom and just held it up and a tired bird lit on it. We then walked slowly to the door and it flew away, the 2nd bird did the same. Sorry, wish your day could have been the same as ours. Ed
 
I talked to the one Vet that was with the group from Animal Rescue and, he said they became disorientated for some reason ? navigation ? they just would not leave, suggesting something was wrong ? I had plenty of them at my other home and I was always able to get them out . although my ceiling were 8 ft. maybe some fumes from forging ? Quite a few birds showed up that week so, they were just passing through as a group ..... migrating south . Nights are really cooling off. I just did not like shooting a bunch of young hummingbirds . Its not me ..... Bubba
 
I have heard it said that airplanes have a "rule" any trouble the first thing to do is full power and up. I wonder if the hummers have the up part in their heads and can't think to come down. Seems reasonable to me but who knows. Ed
 
Ed, You are exactly right .... The Vet said the same thing .... that's why they get trapped ... higher the ceiling the harder it is for them to navigate down.........
 
Back
Top