New purple martin house and need a pole...

[BeckyI]

Hello! My name is Becky and I'm very excited to start attracting purple martins. I recently married and moved to the middle of Texas and was given as a wedding gift a purple martin house. I figured I'd stick it on a pole and that'd be that. Well, from reading, it's a lot more complicated and expensive than that.

Has anyone made a pole, especially for less than some $50? Is there a good, inexpensive pole that people recommend? We're pretty handy people and we have ladders, so I could just use that to clear out sparrow nests. Any thoughts? I hadn't thought the pole would be the expensive part of putting up a purple martin house.

Thanks!

[taxidermy lady]

What type of house do you have?

[Dan G]

I used a 20 foot 'green post'
http://www.advanced-sol.com/greenpost2.html
I cut a slot near the top to install the pulley. It is 6X6 inches and very sturdy.
Concreted into the ground. Just over 3 feet into the ground.

[tim414]

What type of house do you have?

I agree; what type house is it?

[Dave Reynolds]

BeckyI --- Welcome to the forum... Lots of good people here with lots of good answers to questions .... Let us know what kind of house it is so, we can try to help you with the pole...

Dave

[Louise Chambers]

Becky,

If you don't know what kind of house you were given, you could post a photo. The reason people are asking is so they will have an idea as to the weight, and mounting options. It might be wood, plastic, or metal - could have 12 or more rooms. A photo would answer a lot of questions, then you'd get better response/help with pole system that would work well with your martin house.

[BeckyI]

It is "The Best 12 Family Purple Martin House." I didn't know I could say what it was since we're not supposed to mention products.

[Louise Chambers]

Okay, that's the info people needed, what kind of house - that's an S&K brand plastic house. Easiest, least expensive pole will be the S&K brand telescoping pole - it's metal, triangular, 3 or 4 sections. The PMCA does not sell them, but you can google and find them easily.

Some folks have had problems with the pole collapsing or pinching their fingers, you can search on tri-tel pole here and read some tips for making it safer.

To clarify for new forum members,

We invite discussion of all types of martin housing and accessories, but commercial sales information or advertisements from, or about, companies and their products (or hyperlinks to these companies) may not be shared on the Forum

. Which means, discussing all martin products is fine, but not where to buy them.

[kehunter]

I believe that is the same house I used last year in my first season. I would encourage you to consider performing the internal modifications to convert from 12 small compartments to 6 larger compartments, by opening up the internal passages and blanking off 6 openings. I had full occupancy and the birds did well.

The pole shown is the "Tri-Tel" telescoping pole Louise mentioned. It works fine, as long as you have a reasonable amount of hand and upper body strength. It it specifically designed to work with that particular house.

[Dave Reynolds]

kehunter ---- Great photo... Hopefully BeckyI could get some great ideas from your photo

Dave

[Waydog]

Whew kehunter! Thats gotta be a lot of weight to muscle down in full season for nest checks??! I have 3 tri tel poles with 2 of these sk houses, and a 4 gourd rack with bo 11s and tunnels. This year, im eliminating one of the houses, and going with 4 more sk bo11s with tunnels, 4 gourds per pole. I leave the poles only 2 sections up, for strength. The pms seem to go for the gourds first, but these are great houses...have several fledged from them...yes conversion to 6 rooms is a must do for them. The only reason im doing away with one of the houses, is due to damage from bb shot for the sparrows and starlings! I like that setup alot though...looks very inviting!

[jr 2]

kehunter;;I though about doing the same thing as you with the gourds but decided too only attach 2 bo11p gourds under my houses;;have your gourds got the inside black liners that make them heavier;;;;jr2

[kehunter]

No, these BO9 gourds don't have a separate liner. They are white inside and out, single wall.

The overall weight is not objectionable, and I drilled some extra holes in the middle and bottom section to reduce the overall installed height by 2 feet.