Any ideas about the manufacturer of this Purple Martin house

[bwenger]

This Purple Martin house was donated to the Lakeland Area Purple Martin Association in Northwest PA, and I am trying to see if their could be any history related to it.

It seems like a well built house, with metal roof. If you have any ideas about it, or the worth of it, let us know. Who knows, there could be thousands of these still out there, but with the weight, and the in-ability to do nest checks easily, as well as it's attraction for house sparrows and starlings, I am not sure what, if any value, it would have. I believe the holes on the one side should be painted black, is that correct.

Any replies would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill

[Louise Chambers]

hi Bill,

It looks like a well-built house and I would guess it's a homemade job rather than manufactured in quantity. Or maybe someone made these to sell as a hobby.

It would take a good bit of work to update it to include access to compartments, SREHs, and larger cavities. The weight, and how to get it on a pole that would allow nest checks or even basic maintenance, would be harder to overcome.

Maybe someone here or in your club will have some ideas, it is a pretty house.

Louise

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I agree that it would be very difficult to bring this house up to modern day standards, it would be easier to start from scratch than to try to modify this house. It is a very pretty house, however.
I would think that it was a homemade house, somebody put a lot of thought into building it, seems to be well built with some good ideas.

[John Miller]

Bill

When I visited the PMCA for a conference a few years ago, I flew into Buffalo. Just onto the interstate heading toward Erie, I saw a house similar to this over to the left out the corner of my eye in a yard. It was old and in need of paint. Anyway, probably just a popular style for the region.

I wonder if the maker had an extra panel with the holes and was just playing around.

A lot of people like these quaint old houses for their gardens. Maybe you could auction it off, giving the explanation about how it's hard to manage for martins but that it could be pretty in a garden (with most of the holes plugged), and the funds could be used to purchase a functional new house. It might be a way to get a good donation. You could paint some decals of flowers on it!

John

[Matt F.]

That is a gorgeous, old, Martin house.

I would love to see it "modernized", and allowed to host Martins again.

Someone with decent woodworking skills, could really make that house Martin/landlord friendly.

- knock out some of the compartment dividers to allow for larger compartments
- add some type of compartment access (the easiest may be a removable front panel, that is one piece with the entrance hole)
- cut a hole in the center of each floor, to allow for a good sized pole to fit through. This would allow the house to be used with a winch and pulley system.

Many folks may think this is way too much work. But I'm a sucker for older, classic, wooden Martin houses.

[bwenger]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. It is a well built house, just not what we're use to now, with the winches and access doors.

Bill

[Guest]

Like Matt, I love that old house. I love to tinker with wood projects, and would really enjoy renovating it. That could be a fun winter project.

[bwenger]

Matt and Lilyrose,

Thanks for the replies. We have a meeting on Saturday, and this house will be brought up in the discussion.

Not sure at this time what we're going to do with it, but we'll try and keep it in the area.

Not sure what the shipping charges would be to Texas for something like this, but it would seem to be high.

Bill

[Guest]

Whoever built it put alot of time, care, and love into it. It's built very thoughtfully, even if not what we currently consider the best of housing. As it sits, I would put it up anyway if I could devise a method for protection from owls. Whoever uses it would have to be in control of starlings pretty consistently, but it's quite a find imo.

[LarryL-MN]

In the mid 60's the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resourses put out a book called WOODWORKING FOR WILDLIFE. It contained a plan very similar to this house. In fact it was the first Martin house I built. It was made of 1/4 inch plywood and lasted 20 years. (Better plywood back then.) They have just released a third edition of that book this summer. It has a new style 4 unit Martin house now. It is a great book for the beginning woodworker with Chimney Swift towers to woodpecker bongo's.

[bwenger]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your input.

I like the look of the house and may put it up next year with only the one floor. I may put Troyer tunnels with the flange on the round holes to keep starlings out, and will have the option of using the built in trap on the tunnels for sparrows.

This will change the styling of the house, but the site of it may be an attraction factor, since I am still trying to pull in my first pair with a T14 and a gourd rack.

As I write this, I am thinking that I could even use two or the three floors, and close the holes on the bottom one or two floors, and only use the top floor for martins. Whether I make some type of sliding entrance on the top floor for nest checks, or just lift the top of the house off and view them from above. Will need to check this out ahead of time, to see how that would work safely while up on a ladder.

Fell once from a fixed martin pole, and don't want to do that again.

Bill

[Matt F.]

Hi Bill.

The one option I had mentioned, about making a removable front panel for compartment access, was actually the idea of the esteemed Michigan Martin landlord, Devere Sturm.

I ran across some photos on Mark D.'s Michigan Martins website, of a modified Bob Buskas North Star house, built by Devere.
This particular North Star, was modified to include a contiguous porch, on each level.
Even though this common porch design is not the safest setup, in terms of allowing possible baby "wandering", and problems with male porch domination, this particular house is probably the most beautiful Martin house, I think I've ever seen.

The following link is to the thread on the Michigan Martins site, that has a few photos of the house - including photos of the removable front panel setup, that may be something you could incorporate into the wonderful wooden house you received.

http://www.michiganmartins.com/forum/vi ... ?f=8&t=873

[bwenger]

Thanks Matt, I will look into that.

I just have to be careful not to weaken the house by making these access locations.

Take care,

Bill