Purple Martin Forum

Louise, the first time this happened I found the wire beneath the rack. The last two times no wire to be found. Its kinda weird that its happened three consecutive times. Looks like the .22 will have to take out this Houdini bird!

This one has me scratching my head. The few times I have had starlings at my gourd rack they go right to the Troyer gourds. I have tunnel traps which I set as soon as I observe them entering these gourds. As soon as I see that the trap has been tripped I lower the rack and not only is there no bird ...

Louise, I forgot to mention that Charlie was a PMCA member- thanks. His wife has been wanting him to downsize for the past few years due to his health. He had his gourds on 5 racks, if she wants I will put up at least one rack and should be able to get at least 10 gourds on it. It would be a nice tr...

Thanks to all for your kind words and thoughts. tim, i am not sure why the colony shrunk. If it was weather related it would have been during migration as we had favorable weather here this spring and summer. These were homemade racks (16' tall) and could not be lowered for nest checks.Charlie contr...

Charles Palmer of Rensselaer Falls NY. passed away on Christmas Eve. Charlie was a dedicated Landlord for over 30 years. Charlie started with a wood house and made the switch to gourds several years ago.Charlies colony has 32 gourds and has enjoyed full occupancy over the last several years. This pa...

As Louise said this is the TG-12, I have had 2 of them for over 20 years and are still in great shape. All parts are still available, they are easy to modify and its easy to hang gourds from the corners of the units.

Has anyone used canary grass in their housing as nesting material?

I find that the HotHands brand hold the heat the longest. cs.

Hi Jeff, sent you a PM.

Hi jojo, I use a .22 Marlin, model 25n with a Bushnell .22 rim fire scope- 3-9x32mm. I use a low load shell (CCI) as it is less powerful and can be shot out a window of your house as it make less noise than most pellet guns.Works great. good luck. cs.

Tony, I also thank all supplemental feeders as it is raining ice pellets north of you this AM. Swallows and Bluebirds doing good, .22 doing a good job on HS. population. Landlord with a large colony 6 miles from me no PM'S as of today,should see some this week. PS . There are those who drink Bud and...

If you have martins at your site there is no need to continue to play dawn song. good luck cs

Hi, sounds like you have to replace the lanyard lock. Fairly easy fix.The small rectangular box on the bottom of the unit.

We are in our fifth day of cool rainy weather here in Northern NY with day time highs from 38-45 degrees.I called a landlord 6 miles from me today to ask him how his birds were doing as he currently has about 15 birds in residence. He said they are doing ok but fears he will start to lose them if th...

saw my first subbie yesterday- hung around for a few minutes- hope to see more soon w/ more favorable weather ----

Hang in there Steve, will be thinking of you and hope to hear from you soon. cs.

Looks promising - good luck--- cs

I have a .22 Marlin w/ a Bushnell .22 Rim Fire 3-9x32mm scope- works great on s&s.

Hey Steve- glad to hear that the martins are readily accepting the Troyer Vertical Gourds. I am trying to re-establish a colony at my site and have 4 of these gourds to add to a new rack along with Super Gourds and a few Excluders- also have 2 TG-12s which I have modified this week. I have had the 2...