Terrible Ending

[Seller]

This is the first time I've logged into the site in quite a while. We had a terrible situation with our housing during the season and I was just completely disgusted with myself and had no interest in coming to the site.

After a couple of years and numerous visitors this summer was our year. Late in the season a pair showed up and within a week or so had five eggs in the gourd. A few days later we had a couple of singles hanging around along with frequent visitors from a nearby colony. At the peak we had a pair and two singles living here. There' we're times we'd have a dozen or so PM's hanging around. I had lowered the S&K telescoping pole to do a nest check and all was well so I raised it back up. The wife was in the pool so I left for a quick trip to the store. Fifteen minutes later I get home and my adult son has the pole lowered, the house above the gourds is now sitting on the ground and the PM's are going crazy. The wife said about 5 minutes after I left the entire system came crashing down and the house actually "popped" off the pole. I quickly put the house back on as best I could and raised the system back up and put bolts in the holes so it wouldn't fall again. All for naught. The PM's came back several times but never stayed in the gourd for more than a few seconds. They didn't stay the night and after that I didn't have any visitors for several days. I lowered the rack and the worst thing that could have happened had happened, all the eggs had broken. I cleaned out the gourd and didn't even raise the system back up, it's still the way it was the day I walked away from it.

I knew about the pressure button issues and just put it off. So disgusted!

[Linda Reynolds]

Seller, please do not beat yourself up, and know how sorry I am to read about your pole/housing failure. You are not the first, nor will you be the last to report pole failure involving this product.

During this 2012 season, I sadly witnessed the same failure in my neighborhood. Most unfortunately, it was mid-season, and the house was very active with martins, eggs and young. Unfortunately pole failure caused major damage to the house, eggs, and young while the landlords were at work. It is also unfortunate that the martins ultimately abandoned this site.

Landlords here on the PMCA's Forum will be most anxious to help to advise you as to how to begin again. Obviously you live in a martin area, and have an attractive location. I wish you much luck in the future and hope you will find a system that will work for you.

I know this is dis-heartening, but many successful colonies have been built upon a set-back or product failure, so please do not give up.

[dhjohnson]

Seller,
I too am so sorry to hear about your pole failure.. You see, this was our first year hosting martins and we started out with tri tel poles too. We have upgraded for 2013 but we had a few severe thunderstorms come through and while I had lowered the pole I still held my breath hoping they would hold up. The clips provided are so unreliable we installed bolts very early on. I plan to turn one of our two poles into a martin breakfast and nesting material resource center. Upgrade your pole and store it as one of life's unfair lessons. The martins will return eventually.
Wishing you a more successful 2013,
Debbie

[Ed Pace]

Hey Seller, sorry to hear of your misfortune but you have kicked your self enough. Now do something for the martins and come back next spring,bigger than ever.
I have been trying for a long time and finally fledge five this year. Don't cheat your self out of that feeling.
Ed

[Dale D]

We all learn by our mistakes. Obviously you have learned a lesson from yours. As opposed to focusing on the negative experience you had, learn from it, and focus on the positive and start preparing for the 2013 season. If I were you I would concentrate on a new pole with a good brake winch system. The ease you will experience in raising, and lowering your housing for nest checks and maintainance will be well worth your time and money. As Debbie suggested you can always use your telescoping pole for a B&B station so it doesn't become a loss for you.

Best of luck to you in 2013.

[Laverne]

And, hopefully, someone else has learned from your unfortunate experience. I have gourds on racks with wooden arms, rope, pulleys, and winches. The weakest link in my system has been the rope. One year a rope broke and many eggs were broken and baby martins were injured and died. The wooden arms broke on impact and the nests inside the gourds were tossed and tumbled. My signature said to keep a check on the condition of your ropes because it is sad when they break. I began switching to steel cables. But, guess what? One of the connectors, which created a loop at the end of the cable holding the gourd rack, failed and once again the gourd rack fell and broke -- disaster!!

It happened again this year. I had mentioned to my husband that this would be the last season for one particular rope. It was looking a little faded and worn in places. Same day -- it failed. Fortunately, it was late in season and there was only one nest left on that rack. The young were not injured and after a quick repair, we got the gourd back up in its original position. Two weeks later, everybody fledged. So, it's not always gonna be the pole. There are a lot of things that can fail and create a disaster.

I'm so sorry this happened to you and your brand new little colony. I know how heartbreaking it can be. In my case, I had to jump into action to salvage the eggs that were not broken and the young that were not injured. In your case, you will have to rebuild your housing to salvage "all" your seasons in the future. I promise it will be worth your efforts. Give the Purple Martins of your future colony a chance to brighten your days and warm your heart. You'll be glad you did...

Best wishes to you for many successful seasons in the future!!

[DAVE]

Seller!
I use the tri Poles (3) and I have good results with them. I use half by one inch Bolts. The clips kept pinching my fingers and sometimes would not set right. I don't use houses on them I use 11 inch Natural Gourds,Six on each rack which is easy to raise and lower. the Gourds are better in the wind than a square box which catches the wind rather than shed it. The Poles with winches are far better way to go but for me out of reach in cost for me. Sorry about your experience, but don't give up. Learn and adapt is what I try to do. Good LUCK for next year.
Dave

[tcg]

Very sorry to hear about your experience. I am actually thankful that I never got martins while I was using my S&K Quad-Tel pole. Before upgrading to a better pole, that Quad-Tel dropped the housing on my head twice. I moved that pole to my dad's house, hoping to get a colony started there. This past weekend I was lowering it to remove the gourds for the season and it fell on me again. In my opinion, those poles are a disaster waiting to happen. Don't give up though. There's always next year.

[Seller]

I really appreciate you guys........especially considering the warning signs were there and historically experience says it's not if but when the buttons will fail.

I've taken the system down, cleaned all the gourds and have decided to add another rack of gourds rather than putting the house back up. I've also drilled thru-holes and put in bolts instead of the pressure buttons.

I've asked santa to bring me a pole with a cable and pulley system for my 25th anniversary which is near the end of September. With my overwhelming disappointment with the previous set up I'm thinking the pole is on the way already

Thanks again guys. What a great network.

[Dale D]

Glad to hear your going to add the pole and winch system. Once you use it you will thank yourself and wonder why you didn't before now. I used telescoping poles the first 2 years and then switched to winch systems. Been using them for last 7 years. Simply love them.