Purple Martin Forum

2 adult males arrived this morning. Happy days!

I agree with Emil. My houses are about 60 feet from our deck (which overlooks a 5 acre pond about 130 yards away). It is absolutely enjoyable to sit on the back deck after a hard days work while enjoying both the purple martin air show and a cold Bud Light. One word of caution though, when the littl...

Hi Glynn,

In my humble opinion, NO! Just make sure that you have prepared your gourds for occupancy and make sure you're location is good.

I take my artificial gourds down a week or so before expected arrivals, clean out the old nesting material then hose out the inside and outside. A suction type basting tool is used to draw 10% Sevin Dust then squirted into the bottom of the gourd. I would say that about a teaspoon full works fine. I...

Hello from Carolina and welcome aboard. The solution to your problem is simple. SHOOT EM!!!!!

I walked out on my deck to bathe in the beautiful sunshine day here in SC and that unmistakable chirping drew my attention upwards. Sure enough, an adult male PM was happily flying around and checking out the housing. I still have 12 more houses to put up so gotta get busy. Happy day!

It is strange that the ASY and the Kingbird will perch inches apart with no problem most of the time. On two occasions that I have witnessed they have violently clashed and the martin tucked-tail and retreated. In addition to going after hawks and crows, the Kingbirds have attacked Killdeer and I su...

Wow, Kathy, that's great to know. I've been seeing a kingbird here for about the past week, and now I think I'm glad to have him. That won't change my owl guard plans, though :) I have watched these birds for a couple years now and watched them get after hawks, crows and other types. They are a ver...

I am having a slight problem with Eastern King Birds using my Martin housing perches. As a rule, they don't mess with the Martins but on more than one occasion they have tangled. I know the Martins don't care for them but they tolerate their presence. The King Bird is bad to the bone and will take o...

I'm new at this myself so I can't give an educated answer to your question. I used a disc from a disc harrow and placed it on the ground below the houses. I used raw egg shells and cracked them into tiny pieces. Are they using them? I really don't know. I think the more experience landlords use feed...

This is my first year trying. I have a 12 unit Big Bo Gourd rig similar to yours. For several weeks a pair would come in but wouldn't stay long. When they left their path was directly towards a neighbor has had housing for several years (about 1 mile away). Four weeks ago a pair stayed. 3-4 days ago...

Cheri,

Prayers on the way and hoping for the best. I have a brother-in-law that has beaten cancer in the liver. It is a long hard struggle but we are winning more and more of the battles against cancer.

J.D.

Bob, John, Emil, Bob, The 1 3/8” pipe I am using is rigid pipe, not EMT. I do have VERY high winds here in the spring. When I bought this place it was called Windy Hill Plantation. I changed the name to Coyote Ridge. The pole is being mounted on a 4X4 treated post cemented about 4 feet in the ground...

Thanks for the help. After toying around with the tilt method I agree completely that a winch system is best. However, I have already invested too much to bail out on this one now. But, I have an ace up my sleeve. Although I am installing a tilt system, I have decided to use another way to clean out...

Hi folks, I am a new member and am in the process of getting my houses up. I am using a 12 gourd (Big Bo) double stacker mounted on 1 3/8" pipe that will tilt to the ground. The height is approximately 12'. The houses will be mounted in the wide open about 60 feet from my home. I have a pond ab...