Gourds better than houses?

[Sam Harris]

I spend a lot of time and money trying to attract these birds modifying houses etc. It is kind of funny that my first pair prefer those cheap carrol gourds over the houses and my larger natural gourds. Is this normal?
And they are nesting in the gourd that faces the trees and not my house.
I guess they don't mind the trees and sometimes I see them fly in to the tops to get leaves. Another thing I noticed is that they take the nesting material out of the Trio and put it in the gourd. They still like to use the house as a look out and to preen.

[Grady]

I have 43 "usable" cavities: 18 various plastic gourds and 25 house cavities. All of my house cavities are 6w x 12l x 6h. I currently have 20 cavities with eggs. I have 11 in gourds and 9 in houses. Thats 61% occupancy for gourds and 36% occupancy for houses.

Last year all of my 11 house cavities were 6x6x6 and I also had 12 gourds. Only 4 nesting pair but all were in the gourds.

[John Miller]

Sam

Sometimes I've thought martins chose smaller gourds first. I speculate the female likes to feel snug in a nest bowl. Despite this, I like a good solid gourd that's heavier and moves less in the wind.

Martins may like the back compartments in Trios for the same reason -- a snug nest chamber. I'm curious whether you took out the divider wall. If so, maybe you could make a nest pocket somehow, such as with a tray.

But so often martins are like lemmings. I've got a site at a golf course that consists of a gourd rack and a pair of Coates houses on a multi purpose pole. Each new year the martins seem to alternate in which they fill first.

John M

[Sam Harris]

As far as the Trio. I reversed the dividers with the doors on every other cavity. Now the new dividers are the old doors and the blank doors are the old dividers. I put pine straw and small leaves in the back compartments, but the martins just remove it and put it in the gourds.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I think that martins prefer gourds over houses for several reasons:

1)less competition from starlings and sparrows
2)more space between entrances
3)more people in the south use gourds, and martins are more used to using them.

A lot of this may be due to their ancestors, they nested far apart if they nested in woodpecker holes, or if they nested in cliffs. They may not like to be crowded in the small spaces of a house. In the last 200 years or so, they have been forced to use houses, but they may still prefer the extra space. For instance, wooden chalets hung far apart are quickly taken, while many cavities in a house are often unused. I would have nothing but wooden chalets if they were not so very heavy.

Also, I never owned an aluminum house, it just seems to cold on cold nights, and too hot on hot days compared to a natural gourd, or maybe even a plastic gourd feels better to them. They may not like the sound of the aluminum or metal when they peck it.

[Matt F.]

Each has their pros and cons.
Much of it has to do with the area you live in.
Martins in the south are the most flexible. They seem to love gourds, but are also easily attracted with houses.
In the northern range (northern states and Canada), wooden houses seem to win over gourds, hands down.
This may have to do with the excellent, insulating properties, of wood.

I'm most experienced with aluminum houses.
Aluminum houses, have advantages, and disadvantages as well.
Advantages:
- require the least amount of maintenance, and upkeep, of all of the currently used, Martin housing materials.
- last indefinitely
- in the southern states, aluminum houses are excellent at keeping temps as close to the outside, shade temp, as possible, thanks to the great ventilation that is standard on most aluminum houses.
- great at attracting Martins - aluminum houses (especially Trio houses) have been the most popular housing for decades. This means that many many Martins recognize them, and are attracted to them.

Disadvantages:
- as they come from the factory, they do not provide good protection from colder temps
- aluminum houses have more vents, seams, and spaces, compared to wood housing, or gourds. This unfortunately also means, more areas that could allow water to get into the nesting area, during heavy rains, and of course, water in the nest, or nesting area, is bad.

In reference to all houses - wood, aluminum, etc.:
Disadvantage: mites, and possibly other parasites, seem to spread to other compartments much easier, and quickly, in houses, than they do in gourds, thanks to the gourds being individual units, and not attached to each other.
Advantage: houses allow for someone to provide a large number of compartments, with a smaller footprint, in a smaller area. This is HUGE for folks that live in neighborhoods, and want to provide many compartments, while staying under the home owner's association's radar........

You can probably tell, the gourd folks love their gourds, and us house folks love our houses.......

[gwarnerjr]

My setup consists of a T-14 and 16 natural gourds. I have only 2 vacancies this year, one each in the T-14 and gourds. I have used the Carroll type gourds up until this year and they were always taken first.

[Robbo]

Hi,
Yesterday I put up my first Gourd ever under a 12 unit wooden house, a Bo-11. I will insulated it with foam this winter. I might be too late as egg laying has begun but it is an experiment for me and I like the looks of Gourds, they are unusual to see here. I hope this works......... I have plans............. Don't tell the wife!!!!!!! Ha Ha.
Robbo.

[flyin-lowe]

As far as the trees go martins do not dislike trees. They don't like to nest near them for safety purposes but the often times get leaves from them for their nest and the rest of the year they will use them as other birds do.

[Sandy - NC]

It depends on where in the country you are and what is the "norm" in your area. Here, in Rocky Mount, Martins prefer gourds, but will nest in houses. Now that my colony is nearing capacity, my T-14 is seeing more and more action. 125 miles SE of me, they prefer houses, but will use both gourds and houses. You got to match the hatch for you area if you are trying to start a colony.

Of course, if money is no problem, you are definitely better off offering both, providing what you are offering is quality built and not junk, as well as having the ability to easily manage it. Solid poles, tilting poles, and telescoping poles make this either nearly impossible to just plain too dangerous. Also, many people are just so caught up in getting as many pairs as possible, so nest checks become difficult, or are not done because of shear numbers of cavities. But, people have the right to do, or not do, nest checks since it is a personal choice. They end up maybe doing spot checks which are pretty much useless because any of the cavities not checked could contain mites, unhatched eggs, or even dead birds that the others in the cavity will have to just live with. I try to do what is best for the birds overall health.

[landonn]

Ok here's my two cents. I think Martins really don't care whether they nest in gourds or houses. I think the big factor is the size of the compartments not like those 6 inch gourds or 6x6 compartments.

Landonn

[sheila&dwayne]

We have wooden bungalow's , wooden houses and plastic insulated gourds. All have martins in them. The bungalows seem to fill first and then its a crap shoot from there. I think they just like a variety and it looks neat...