Porches or not?

[chickadee]

Just wondering if anyone has martins use gourds or a house without porches? Over the years I had one gourd without a porch and they did not go in. Just seemed like it was harder for them? Any thoughts ?

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Many landlords use gourds without porches, especially with round holes. On an SREH, its much easier for a martin to learn to enter if you have a porch, but they certainly will use them w/o a porch. Some people feel that the porch also makes it easier for a starling to enter, so they don't need or use a porch. I would recommend a tail prop if you go porchless.

[gwarnerjr]

My T-14 and 30+ natural gourds are all porchless with clinger entrances. The martins zip right in and the starlings stay out! I do have tail props on the T-14 but not the gourds.

[wyatt]

I like the porches for me more than for the martins. I enjoy watching them sit on the porch.

[klcretired]

I have porches on most of my Gourds inside/Outside Porches this also provides both the parents and Babies a platform to sit on and feed making it much easier on both. Most of my porches are the wide porches
My LS Goliad PM 20 Room House has all SREH entrances w. Porches.
Good luck on whatever you decide.

[DornCounty]

An SREH entrance within a 1/4" of a porch makes it harder for a starling to get into.

[Connie]

I love sitting on my porch watching my martins sitting on their porches..

[Jose Rodriguez]

Chickadee, I got rid of all the porches on mine due to unwanted sparrows landing. I noticed that the Martins were having a hard time getting in my plastic gourds so I added cling plates to all my gourds. The Martins use their tail to push themselves into the opening. They go in so fast if you blink an eye you'll miss it. It has worked great for us and the Martins. In my profile you can see the Martin jumping out by pushing against the cling plate. The plate was 3"w X 3.5"h. Best of Luck!

[BuddyS]

It seems as though Jose's porchless/clinger plate option makes sense. The sparrows tend to hover over a landing area they're not sure of, and with no landing area at all...no hosp (or starlings). Where I live there's no shooting so all anti-hosp ideas are good ones. Something to debate.

[chickadee]

this is a good idea. I never thought of the sparrows liking the porches better. I may change one rack to all clinger plates. and see how that goes. thanks for the info.