Purple Martin Forum

Svanbooven, I use an electric solar charger on 7 poles and it works well. It cranks out around 1700-1800 volts. It gets my attention real fast. Why did yours fail? dave

Bill, my t14 I built in 05. It's quite popular. Usually 10-14 nests per season. I place 4 gourds under house and they're full each season. Try gourds underneath. I use homemade nest trays. They like them. Try nest trays.
dave

KMCFL, I have the multipurpose three inch pole with winch. I have two trio musselman houses and four excluder gourds below. It's a great setup and the birds like it. It holds up well. I raise it 60-70 percent only to be safe but I do that with my other five poles. No storm damage. I'm happy. dave

KMCFL, I have the multipurpose three inch pole with winch. I have two trio musselman houses and four excluder gourds underneath. It's a great setup and the birds like it. I only raise to 60-70 percent. I have five other poles and do the same. Since doing this no storm damage has occurred. We fledge ...

Brent, pictures did not go thru. But there is nothing about the nest trays that's special. They are about 6 x 6 inch square, maybe a little less than 6 on the width side, 1 1/2 inch tall wooden front and 3 inch tall by 18 1/2 inch long aluminum sides that's folded around the wooden base. The wood is...

I have a trendsetter house that came with the wire mesh subfloors. I built my nest trays out of 1/4 inch plywood for the floors and the fronts and aluminum flashing for the sides and backs. They are approx. 6 inch by 6 inch. I have a nail in the bottom that hooks into the subfloor so they don't move...

Royals 76 I used a 2 inch hole punch in my houses about 15 years ago. I punched the walls twice to make an oval hole, 2 inch by 3 1/2 inch. Haven't had any problems since doing this. I think a 3 inch saw will tear the heck out of the wall unless you take house apart and use a good solid backer. dave

Thanks for the radar image.

dave

I still haven't heard if there is a Tulsa roost. Anybody know?

dave

80 to 90 pair. Last year we fledge 391 chicks a record here. This year we are around 340 chicks and 80 to 90 pair.

dave

Mstan, very stressful season. Lots of deaths at my colony , subbies killing eggs and babies, more than usual , hawks and owls trying to clean my colony out every day and every night, and more than usual wing entrapment. I'm ready for the season to be over. Might be my last. This is my 20th year. dave

There use to be a large roost in Tulsa. It was at a downtown hotel for several years. We went several times, rented a room and watched this spectacular event . The bar at the hotel served purple martin coctails for the viewing. I think the roost has moved. Does anybody know if a roost still exist in...

Thanks John Miller, almost out so ordered one. Thanks again.
dave

After 16 years of using baffles on my poles I switched this year to using a solar electric fence and hot wires on my six poles. Last year I had for the first time two breaches on separate poles on the same night, a six foot and a four and a half foot black rat snakes. I decided to switch to solar sy...

I put a house tube in my minicastle thinking it would stopthe squeak but did not. Iused a pvc pipe. My castle has a metal house tube in it that came with it and it works well, no squeak. The pvc pipe may have helped alittle but still pretty loud. I do nest checks every 4-5 days. Ithink the birds get...

I built my T14 in o5 and installed the aluminum starling resistant plates from PMCA. They are crescent and excluder 0penings. I have never had entrapment in my t14.

Dave

could it be possible that the cable has come off the pulley on top of pole?
dave

Talk to pmca. They carry all that stuff. If you bought them new, the nuts and bolts should have come with the gourds.

dave

I use the crescent and excluder doors from trio and they work great. I have four houses from trio and use them in all of them. Regular sized starlings can't get in. I've had maybe a couple small starlings get in in the last 10 years. But they don't last long with my 22 cal. pellet gun.

dave

I use a feeder station every year and use it throughout the season. I place dried meal worms, pine straw and oyster shell in it. It's about 6 ft. high so I can maintain it onthe ground.The birds use it a lot. But starlings and robins eat a lot of the meal worms which I don't like but oh well. dave