Conley II entrances not working for me..........

[geneinmurphy]

been gone on vacation for a week (had four PM's when I left) and when I got back found a dead PM in my T14 compartment; seems to be the victim of a starling attack. I have Conley II entrances this year and the starlings wiggle they way inside the compartments. Anyone else having this problem? Shold I swith to the excluder or excluder II entrances? Which is more starling resistant???

[John Miller]

The excluder II stops nearly all starlings and is a little easier for martins. I've never had a starling breach one, but I have heard of it. It would be my first choice. It's 30.5 mm tall.

the original excluder-- 30 mm -- stops probably 100 percent of starlings, but more restrictive to martins. Some people report using it fine but I don't like the idea of martins having to struggle at all if not necessary. You will get different opinions on this. could always try some of both.

John

[Matt@atx]

The Conley II has not worked for me since 2011. I have seen Starlings get in and out just as quick as Martins. It has not appeared to even slow down the few Starlings I have seen shoot in and out of gourds before I could get close enough.

Love to change it out with Excluder II John but it would probably cost a lot right now. The only alternative I think is to raise the porch height.

Im not liking these Conley IIs and I got 2 dozen now.

[Tim Stover]

same here starlings go right in

[~Ray~Gingerich]

I've never seen a starling breach any of mine, they just leave them alone. I don't have a big starling problem but the ones that do show up go for the round holes.
I think some areas are more prone to have smaller starlings at this time of year so that could be your problem too.

[Martin man RI]

Starlings are thin and small down south. In the north they are very fat in order to make it threw the long winter. Have been 100 % SREH since 2005
have never had a starling issue. Over 100 units Crescent, Conley I & II
Ray

[Don & Danielle]

I had a starling get in a Conley II last year. Seemed like the female could get in but the male couldn't. I shimmed up the porch to be flush with the bottom of the entrance 'dip', and that pretty much stopped her. The shim also gave the starlings a little less traction, compared to the big ribs on the standard porch.

I have a pretty big investment in this entrance, too. Hope they don't turn out to be non-effective in the long run.

[JJ Jones]

All of my gourds are Conley II types. I've experience no problems since making the conversion about (3) years ago. I have monitored some males & females trying to get thru however no luck. I converted my Trio Castle about a year ago because of the starlings. I installed the Conley II plates and no problems again with the starlings. They have been a "godsend" for my colony.

[Davlyn]

Same here , I converted to Conley II entrances about four years ago when I had a major problem with starlings ! Since then I have had starlings try to wiggle in at the beginning of every season but finally they move on , I hope it stays that way !!!!!

[Penny Briscoe]

I had starlings get into the standard crescent opening two years in a row. We all have to check continually no matter what we have because they are all only starling resistant, not starling proof. Both years I let the starling pair nest and lay eggs. It was early in the Martin season. Then I lined that nest box with sticky mouse/rat paper. The female entered and got stuck and couldn't get out. She died and her mate took off. I had no more starlings the rest of both years. I was surprised how easily they could enter the crescents.

[Matt F.]

The excluder II stops nearly all starlings and is a little easier for martins. I've never had a starling breach one, but I have heard of it. It would be my first choice. It's 30.5 mm tall.

the original excluder-- 30 mm -- stops probably 100 percent of starlings, but more restrictive to martins. Some people report using it fine but I don't like the idea of martins having to struggle at all if not necessary. You will get different opinions on this. could always try some of both.

John

That's great intel John.
Prior to your post, I did not realize the Excluder II was .5mm taller, than the original Excluder.
That's the beauty of those patented twin "pegs". Since it keep starlings from rotating their bodies to gain more clearance by going in by rolling to one side or the other, the center part of the entrance is able to be opened up a bit more.

[Matt@atx]

The excluder II stops nearly all starlings and is a little easier for martins. I've never had a starling breach one, but I have heard of it. It would be my first choice. It's 30.5 mm tall.

the original excluder-- 30 mm -- stops probably 100 percent of starlings, but more restrictive to martins. Some people report using it fine but I don't like the idea of martins having to struggle at all if not necessary. You will get different opinions on this. could always try some of both.

John

That's great intel John.
Prior to your post, I did not realize the Excluder II was .5mm taller, than the original Excluder.
That's the beauty of those patented twin "pegs". Since it keep starlings from rotating their bodies to gain more clearance by going in by rolling to one side or the other, the center part of the entrance is able to be opened up a bit more.

+1 Matt. Nice information from John. I have been thinking about it since reading it yesterday. I wonder if the easiest cost effective way would be if one could obtain excluder II entrance plates and glue or push pin them over the Conley II entrances permanently to replace them as entrances.

I got maybe 1 or 2 Starlings I know are coming but I cannot get even close enough to them to know what gourds they are interested in and/or living in.

[Jeff Robinson]

The excluder II stops nearly all starlings and is a little easier for martins. I've never had a starling breach one, but I have heard of it. It would be my first choice. It's 30.5 mm tall.

the original excluder-- 30 mm -- stops probably 100 percent of starlings, but more restrictive to martins. Some people report using it fine but I don't like the idea of martins having to struggle at all if not necessary. You will get different opinions on this. could always try some of both.

John

That's great intel John.
Prior to your post, I did not realize the Excluder II was .5mm taller, than the original Excluder.
That's the beauty of those patented twin "pegs". Since it keep starlings from rotating their bodies to gain more clearance by going in by rolling to one side or the other, the center part of the entrance is able to be opened up a bit more.

+1 Matt. Nice information from John. I have been thinking about it since reading it yesterday. I wonder if the easiest cost effective way would be if one could obtain excluder II entrance plates and glue or push pin them over the Conley II entrances permanently to replace them as entrances.

I got maybe 1 or 2 Starlings I know are coming but I cannot get even close enough to them to know what gourds they are interested in and/or living in.

Matt,
I did exactly that this winter before raising my racks - converted Conley IIs to Excluder IIs. Note below link to my Photobucket pictures of modifications to "nearly" all of my Troyer Conley II Gourds. I bought the Excluder II face plates from the PMCA shop. I applied Lexel betwen the surfaces before screwing them on. Let me know if you have any questins on the modification process.

http://s1118.photobucket.com/user/jrob4 ... ifications

Jeff

[Matt@atx]

That's great intel John.
Prior to your post, I did not realize the Excluder II was .5mm taller, than the original Excluder.
That's the beauty of those patented twin "pegs". Since it keep starlings from rotating their bodies to gain more clearance by going in by rolling to one side or the other, the center part of the entrance is able to be opened up a bit more.

+1 Matt. Nice information from John. I have been thinking about it since reading it yesterday. I wonder if the easiest cost effective way would be if one could obtain excluder II entrance plates and glue or push pin them over the Conley II entrances permanently to replace them as entrances.

I got maybe 1 or 2 Starlings I know are coming but I cannot get even close enough to them to know what gourds they are interested in and/or living in.

Matt,
I did exactly that this winter before raising my racks - converted Conley IIs to Excluder IIs. Note below link to my Photobucket pictures of modifications to "nearly" all of my Troyer Conley II Gourds. I bought the Excluder II face plates from the PMCA shop. I applied Lexel betwen the surfaces before screwing them on. Let me know if you have any questins on the modification process.

http://s1118.photobucket.com/user/jrob4 ... ifications

Jeff

Thank you Jeff. very nice.

What does the Lexel do ( hold it in place?) and what size screws are you using there? You use the Dremel to cut away/open up the Conley II entrance before placing the Excluder II over it(?)

Would it be recommended 5 to 6 weeks after Martins have arrived I wonder(?)

It appears the Excluder II entrance plate is the exact same size as The Conley which is nice. Thank you for sharing this information. I will look this up from PMCA.

[Doug Martin - PA]

I too use Excluder II wherever possible. They show a strong preference for it here.

However the weather could have been the culprit in this case. If you were away for a week you missed some very poor weather there.

Doug

[Virgil McCoy]

Apparently these southern Starlings "are" a bit smaller than the northern relatives. I also fought Conley II's for a few years before converting to Clinger SREH (28 total) in addition to 12 crescent. I still have starlings visit occasionally but no more issues!!! Just fight the sparrows here and there as everyone else.

[Louise Chambers]

Another option might be a install a nestbox trap for the starlings - some of you may already be doing that. A nice wooden nestbox with round entrance hole, placed where starlings can see it easily when they visit martin housing, should pull them right in.

[JL Murray]

Clinger entrance's work better and look better than the Conley II at least IMHO! .... The Ace Entrance is another that i really like the look of as well.

I still really wish the Troyer Gourds's came with a Clinger or Ace entrance instead of the Conley II. I love Troyer Gourd's but hate the Conley II's.

Just my opinion!

[Lewis]

I am trying something different with my THG's with Conley II entrances. I raised the floor flush with the entrance and used my Dremel tool to make a dip in the PVC plate to match the dip in the Conley II. I then placed a PMCA wing guard over the entrance flush with the floor. This cuts the width of the entrance and keeps the starling away from the entrance. I did this on my Safe Haven House last year after a starling had breeched the crescent opening and had eggs. She could not get back in. I trapped her in a round hole THG.
On Louise's recommendation I put a PMCA nest box trap on the sunny side of my barn and have caught 4 starlings before they made it to my racks.
The THG's I modified are the newer ones with the wing entrapment guard. I have 4 of these gourds modified and martins are using 3 of them and have no trouble entering or exiting. I haven't had any starlings try these gourds so I can not say how good a fix this is. I have 16 other THG's with the Conley entrance that have not been modified. No starlings in these gourds this year but I have had them in the past. I don't have a sparrow problem, but if I did I could still use THG trap by removing my modification.
I shot all my sparrows years ago and my old Trio House has all the pellet marks to prove it. They never came back. I plan on using the Trio for a trap if they ever return.

Lewis

[Virgil McCoy]

I meant to say the Starlings must be a "bit larger" instead of a smaller here in the south. I modified my old entrances by reverse mounting the Clinger SREH over the Conley ll SREH which totally solved my Starling issues!