Looking for homemade gourd canopies....

[starling shooter]

Hey guys-

I bought some homemade gourd canopies here 4-5 years ago.

I've got 30 or so smaller gourds that I want to fix up for tree swallows and bluebirds and they just look dressier with the canopies. The commerical ones I've seen look too big.

Thanks in advance....

[Guest]

They are very easy to make from 4" Sewer & Drain.

You can experiment with the size and shape with patterns cut from cardboard from a tablet back,the slope of the canopy can vary with the arc you cut on the fixing end/edge,once you have one you like,get a magic marker,hold the pattern on the pipe and outline around the pattern, cut with a pair tin snips or Saber Saw,no heating or bending required stick'em on with Liquid Nails.

I made a dozen one night while watching an hour long show on TV and had coffee & cookies too.

dick

[Guest]

i cut peices from smaller gourds to make rain canopies for my natural gourds.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

The above ideas posted are both good ideas. Another idea is to cut a piece of lightweight tin, I did this 20 years ago, its easy to fit any sized gourd by bending it into a smaller circle, or opening the circle to fit a larger gourd.

Also, plastic buckets can be used to make them. If you want to permanently bend plastic, stick it into boiling water for a while and you can shape it. Or you can use a heat gun to shape any plastic.

[Louise Chambers]

Here are two articles that give info on making canopies:

http://purplemartin.org/update/AddingAccess.html

"Landlords can cut, file, and bend canopies from a sturdy stock of sheet metal. Dimensions recommended [for martin gourds] are 6-7" long, by 2" wide. Taper off the outer quarter of the canopy at both ends with tin snips, and file any rough areas along the edges. Bend the canopies to the desired curvature, by shaping them over a V-8 can, or other round surface.

Canopies can be attached to any gourd, natural or plastic, with just a thick bead of 100% silicone caulking. Make sure that the gourds are free of dirt, mold, and surface flakes. For natural gourds, lightly sand the areas above the entrance holes where the canopies will be attached. If you are mounting canopies on gourds that are already painted, you will want to roughen-up the surface, first, so the caulking will grip tighter."

http://purplemartin.org/update/NaturalGourd.pdf (well, there may not be specific canopy info in this one after all, I'll try to pinpoint it later)

[T Seber]

YES...ALL the things mentioned above will work and most of them I have used. A piece of thin walled 3 or 4 inch pvc can be used quickly and effectively for canopies. A piece of flashing like is used in roofing and a sharp pair of tin snips or heavy scissors will make a bunch quickly and easily as well. About any home Depot or Lowes will carry all this stuff in abundance and enough can be bought for many gourds at a pretty low cost.

[LarryMelcher/KY]

My opinion here...

Don't make the canopies longer than necessary to keep out the rain. I don't like how it would obstruct a martins view when exiting the gourd.

You ever wonder what it would be like if you were the martin exiting the gourd? You can't see what is directly above you. A hawk could be flying over...

This may get lots of discussion...

Any canopies that I have on my Tree Swallow gourds are very short.. just to keep rain out. Not long enough for a perching area.

[T Seber]

Right Larry. Don't obstruct the upward martin view more than is needful to keep water from blowing inside

[John Miller]

Some experienced landlords think a larger base-ball cap-sized canopy may help block the view of owls, but I don't know. I guess if you have hawks, make it smaller..if you have owls... I did get some canpoies snugged a little low over my unporched crescent entrances in a few natural gourds and observed that martins had trouble flying in with nest material, but they could fly in with insects.

John M

[Guest]

Sounds like a tunnel entrance with no canopy is the way to go when it comes to Hawk and Owl attacks.