Purple Martin Forum

For the first time, I've added 4 gourds to the bottom of my 16 compartment house. I was gifted 3 B0 9s which I added porches and cooling caps(I'm in SWLA). I bought a 4th Troyer vertical. A new pair of PMs seemed to have chosen the Troyer. A second pair occasionally check out 1 of the Bo 9s. I got a...

Great work! Not just saving your birds, but many future PMs!

So what are your new purchases for the 2024 season? I bought a few troyer vertical gourds and some vented caps for them. Also, some cooling caps and tunnels for a few S&K gourds.

From my experiences, you won't see anything until it ships. Wouldn't hurt to give them a call either.

Throw enough Tony's in it and we would probably not even notice. Lol

Thanks for sharing. Now throw him in da gumbo!

This is a tough one. To see your birds fighting is near heartbreaking. I see it like parenting as we provide housing, nesting materials, heating, cooling, protection and even meals, but we can't fix everything for them (children or birds) and have to let them work some things out on their own so the...

Big Burreaux fan also. Hopefully his run of injuries are over.

That's true. Survival of the fittest!

Any of you tried lasers? My son has a very strong laser that I've pointed at HOSPS that I couldn't get shots at. It drives them crazy and they quickly leave.

I have more adult males than females. Do the ASY females arrive later than the males?

Heat rises no doubt. However in an 6, 8, 10, 15 inch gourd or PM house that is 8, 10, 12, 15 feet off of the ground really make any difference. I honestly don't know. If it helps, I'll gladly do it.

Those S&K gourds have an adapter for oval lid converting it to round with a screw on cap. The kit + cap is only 2-3$. The problem is that they are currently out of stock. I've been waiting to purchase a few. Keep the updates coming!

I'm very interested in this as well. I remember reading through the archives here that adding the pvc elbows dropped the temperatures inside the gourds by as much as 5° F. Not sure how scientific it was. Eventually, I believe, we will get good data on this topic. In the meantime, I'll try to do the ...

X3 on the bottle rockets!

Thanks Terry and definitely Geaux Tigers!

Do new individual PMs and or couples build multiple nests at one site? I know certain birds exhibit that behavior, but curious about the PMs. What's your experience?

Thanks for the replies!

I left some of last year's nesting material in my PM house. So will new PMs think that other PMs live there and not try to claim a cavity? Or will they try to claim it?

Nice! What kind of gourds?