A question for Steve K.

[Barrowdog]

Steve
Are all your Trendsetter entrances round. I have lost my third bird to wing entrapment. Two last year .I have the starling resistant ones. I took your suggestion and talked with the manufacture and am sending picture of this one. I got nest trays ,trimmed them , put down non skid tape. The owl and overcrowding are not issues to date. This bird almost looks like he took the turn on the porch and did not enter straight but he could have twisted that much trying to get out.
Need some help here

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Barrowdog,

Yes, all my Trendsetters have round holes and I have never had any entrapments in them. In fact I have used round holes in all my personal martin colonies for over 50 years and I have never had a martin permanently lodged in a round hole. However, entrapment can happen in round holes, particularly when martins are fighting viciously inside the compartment.

I don't know what your starling situation is but ours is minimal. I trap most of the early starlings before the martins arrive and then we may shoot several more later on. I have shot two males starlings so far this year and none caused any problems for the martins. So there are no compelling reasons for me to use srehs at this time in my personal colony and I plan to stay with round holes for now.

If you are concerned about starlings or have significant issues that you can't control via shooting/trapping, then it is probably best to use srehs. I would use them in my personal colony if we had major starling problems or I wasn't retired.

I believe the newer Trendsetters come with entrapment guards but I don't know how effective they are in preventing martins from becoming wedged in crescents.

If your Trendsetter does not have the factory installed entrapment guards, the PMCA offers Wing Entrapment Protectors through their online store. These guards may be applicable for your Trendsetter. I believe they work with Trio houses. You could contact the manufacturer and perhaps he could provide you with factory guards if your house doesn't have them.

I know it is upsetting to see dead martins wedged in srehs. This usually occurs when two martins are fighting inside and the loser tries to get out and getting out of a restrictive crescent is more difficult than a round hole, particularly during stressful conditions. However, we have found martins dead in crescents in our satellite colonies and the martin just got stuck in the entrance and there was no fighting occurring.

Another option to consider is to replace the crescents with a less restrictive sreh such as the Conley 2. The PMCA sells these Conley 2 plates through their online store. However, with any sreh there is always a possibility of entrapment under the "right conditions".

And you must be vigilant to monitor your colony, particularly at the beginning of the season when martins are often fighting for territory/mates. It is important to remove a trapped martin ASAP because martins may not live long when stuck in a sreh.

I hope this information is helpful. I know there are other folks like John Miller and Kathy Freeze on this Forum who use Trendsetters with srehs and perhaps these landlords can also comment about this issue.

Good luck and keep us posted on how things go.

Steve

[Barrowdog]

Thank you Steve .I do have the newer one with the guards. The last time I talked with the manufacturer he was interested .I will review all you had to say to him also. Don' t have a starling problem and no house sparrows . My BIG problem is the owl I think I won' t be happy until these entrances are changed. Sad thing is this bird was not caught on morning rounds and had not been dead long? Thanks for all you do to educate us !

[DebA]

I too use Trendsetter 12's with crescent. This will be my third year. Year one I had a dead female WE with a female trapped inside the compartment. She lived. Year two, last year, I had a second WE without a trapped bird inside. It does have the factory guards.

I do have starlings here and am getting better about control. Sparrows are my main nemesis. It has crushed me to lose two martins to this. But otherwise I love love love the Trendsetter.

What were the manufacturer's suggestions for you? I too have the wooden nest trays.

Deb

[Barrowdog]

Deb
Last year pretty much what I did . Cutting back nest trays and nonskid tape is what I told him As advice I got from the blog.. Hope to discuss the entrances next. As Steve says it may be an issue from time to time with them.i want to ask why the wing guards are on inside and not out. My birds have gotten caught in the corners going in. For this year I may try that in some form. Also not sure why not a problem in my other al house . There are nowrap around porches on that one

[jedin]

I just found this thread. I have used a ts 12 with the guards and the webbed trays that come with it for 2 years with no entrapment. I just installed the wooden nest trays for this year and immediately had issues come to mind I had read about before. There is a gap between the tray and the door. Seems I recall maybe James in St Louis saying something about sliding the edge under the opening, can't do this the way the trays are made.

I use sreh. Is the wing entrapment more of a problem with the trays or is does it matter? Barrowdog, where can I find the information on cutting the trays/tape?

Thanks, Janet

[jedin]

I just found this thread. I have used a ts 12 with the guards and the webbed trays that come with it for 2 years with no entrapment. I just installed the wooden nest trays for this year and immediately had issues come to mind I had read about before. There is a gap between the tray and the door. Seems I recall maybe James in St Louis saying something about sliding the edge under the opening, can't do this the way the trays are made.

I use sreh. Is the wing entrapment more of a problem with the trays or is does it matter? Barrowdog, where can I find the information on cutting the trays/tape?

Thanks, Janet