Off Season Purple Martin Projects

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Tim,

Thanks for sharing the photos of you using the worm gear winch with a cordless drill. That method sure looks easy and safe! I must confess I always have just a little apprehension when raising/lowering a big gourd rack with me directly underneath it! My poles do have safety bolts installed just above my head, so these steel bolts would probably stop a gourd rack should a winch fail.

Yes, I am pretty much locked into the Fulton winches at this point and I feel comfortable with them. But the worm gear winches look to be excellent winches relative to safety and ease of operation.

Hope you have much success with your off season martin projects!

Steve

Hey Rodger,

I have five aluminum Trendsetter houses in my current martin colony and all are well occupied each season by martins. I have used other aluminum houses such as Lone Stars and Trios and all these were well occupied by martins. We use only aluminum houses and some Super Gourds in our various satellite martin colonies and many of these houses are 100% occupied by martins. So in our area, martins like and do well in aluminum houses. All our houses are ventilated. It is definitely HOT in Louisiana in June and July but for the most part the martins do well in the aluminum houses.

I have usually had more martins nesting in gourds than houses mainly because martins tend to dominate houses more easily than gourds which are spread out on a rack and offer more territorial privacy. Martins do nest in colonies, but martins still defend their territory from other martins and fight each other savagely over nest cavities and mates.

I have good success catching starlings with the PMCA nest box trap. Before the martins arrive, I just hang these boxes on a Trendsetter and starlings can't resist "checking in but not checking out alive"! You can also attach these traps to poles, trees and even sides of buildings near the roof. I do have problems with bluebirds getting trapped and they are always released unharmed. I painted my traps white. Here is a photo of one of my Trendsetters with four PMCA nest box traps attached by zip ties to each side; any starling that flies down to this system nearly always get trapped:



I wish you much success with your martin colony in 2016!

Steve

[Rodger Drye]

Hey Steve,

Compliments again on great photos. My daughter in law will be visiting for Thanksgiving and she's
the computer wiz. I,m hoping she can show me how to post photos. Those NBT's for Starlings look neat, would like to have a couple. I've looked all over the 2015 Martin Market Place and can't find any of them in there. Will try on computer @ Purple Martin .org.

Glad to hear you're having great success with trendsetter and other types of Aluminum housing. Do you have to drill ventilation holes in the aluminum housing. If I don't sell these houses of mine I may stick them back up if I get the time.

Keep up the good work on being a responsible dedicated Landlord.

I know the Martins appreciate it, and so do I.

Rodger

[avesrun]

Roger: I'm using only the rod presently with my worm gear winch. Yes there is an adapter that goes on the winch (it's a loop of sorts) that the looped end of the rod hooks onto. I experience a slight bit of wobble on the drill but it is negligible. On the rod that I made, I used my bench grinder to flatten 4 sides on the end that goes into the drill so the drill chuck gets a good grip on the rod. I really like my worm gear winch and have no plans to ever switch back to crouching or leaning or standing under a martin setup while raising and lowering. I do still have 2 brake winches with handle at my home site but will be switching them out for worm gear for the upcoming season.

Regardless though, with standard brake winches, whenever I have experienced jerkiness of housing upon lowering, I just make sure the cable and winch itself has adequate lubing , and most importantly, that the martin pole itself, hubs, gliders, and all surfaces that make contact with the pole have a coating of Teflon spray. That has taken care of jerkiness regardless of what winch is used. I use a special wire cable lube spray on my cables and use Tri-flow Teflon spray on pole, gliders etc. Tri-flow is a great product although higher in price than the much less effective lubricants like WD-40 which evaporate much quicker and lubing lasts for only a few days.
TimG

[avesrun]

Nice Steve; I can see where those NBT traps would be highly effective mounted directly to your housing; especially early season when you're able to close off all/most of the entrances of the martin housing. I have built two of the Abare mini controller versions (one for starlings and one for hosp) that I use early season while martin entrances are closed and throughout the main season. They utilize the pvc drop tube process. I move them around my property but mostly keep them in action on my buildings. The only downside I can see for having the NBT's on the housing would be the frequent raising and lowering of housing to remove the air rats from the trap! Below I've attached some photos of my Abare mini controllers. As always thanks for sharing your photos and expertise with the forum!
TimG

Mini Sparrow Controller Photos:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h136/ ... khwyxy.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h136/ ... gf4xfa.jpg

Mini Starling Controller Photo:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h136/ ... rxqfsg.jpg

[Rodger Drye]

Hey Steve,

Did find those Starling NBT's in the PMCA market place. My question to you is how do you remove the bird without it trying to fly out of the crack when you open the door?? Or maybe there's another trap door that didn't show in the picture.
My NBT is like TimG's. I built it from plans I got off the internet and like his utlizes the drop tube system.
The Tomahawk I just got sits on the ground or table and is a 36" long wire trap with tube entrances at both ends that narrow as the bird walks in. Once caught they can't find their way back out. This trap can easily hold up to 15+ birds.

Thanks again for everything you do for our Martins...

Rodger

[Rodger Drye]

Hey TimG,

That just might be the answer - that teflon spray for the pole and glides. I'm no chemist but couldn't figure out why that aluminum pole and steel cabled winch would be so jerky. It felt as though it was sticking or rubbing on something. Don't have any problem at all with my 2" x 2" steel poles.

Need to get some of that Teflon Spray to lube all my winches and poles. Can you get it at Lowe's or somewhere?

I'm like you, I just use a straight bar on my Worm Gear winches, and I'm happy with the way it works. I agree with you I don't like to squat or bend over to lower and raise my racks. The worm gear with hex drive has been my salvation.

I appreciate everything you do for our Martins.

Rodger

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Tim,

Thanks for sharing your photos of your starling and house sparrow mini controller traps. I like those type of traps because they keep catching starlings/sparrows and you don't have to keep re-setting the trap! I either lower our houses to remove starlings from the traps or I use a step ladder to climb up to the traps and remove any trapped starling.

In our satellite martin colonies, I have great success catching house sparrows in Trios using the Spar-o-door traps and using the Universal wire traps. I also use these traps later on if sparrows manage to take over a compartment during the active martin season.

Steve

Hey Rodger,

My Trendsetters have an internal vent hole in each compartment which can be opened and closed. I don't drill any more vent holes in the Trendsetters, but I could easily do so in the removable door panels. So far martins have done well in the Trendsetters in spite of hot weather in June and July.

It can be a little tricky removing starlings from the nest box trap. There is a door that is closed on the side with a bolt that can be twisted to open the door. What I do is slowly open the door just enough to slip my hand inside. Starlings either try to hide against the trap sides or some try to climb up toward the top of the trap. I don't have much trouble grabbing the starling and no starling has ever managed to force its way past my hand and squeeze through out the door. You need to keep the door opened just enough to let your hand inside and not have a lot of space so that a starling may try to squeeze through. Most of the starlings do scream loudly when the Grim Reaper grabs them!

Steve

[Rodger Drye]

hey steve,

[Rodger Drye]

Hey Steve,

Warning this is a TEST.

My Step son and Daughter in law & Grand kids took the wife and I out for Supper tonight. It being Veterans Day, they always have a little celebration for me in regognition of my time in Service.
I had her show me how to post photos using my I'Pad. So here goes - I'm gonna try to send you pictures of the two Aluminum Martin houses that I would like to sell.
Evidently it's not working. I must be doing something wrong. She'll be back down for Thanksgiving, will make another attempt at that time.
Thanks for the info on the Starling NBT. I'd like to get my hands on several of them little boogers - I'd be the Grim Reaper form Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina.

Rodger

[John Barrow]

Regardless though, with standard brake winches, whenever I have experienced jerkiness of housing upon lowering, I just make sure the cable and winch itself has adequate lubing , and most importantly, that the martin pole itself, hubs, gliders, and all surfaces that make contact with the pole have a coating of Teflon spray. That has taken care of jerkiness regardless of what winch is used. I use a special wire cable lube spray on my cables and use Tri-flow Teflon spray on pole, gliders etc. Tri-flow is a great product although higher in price than the much less effective lubricants like WD-40 which evaporate much quicker and lubing lasts for only a few days.
TimG

The problem that Steve and I and quite a few others have related, is not one of failed lubrication as you suggest. I know this because when I and several others switched out the jerking, bouncing, DL winch for a Fulton, the problems went away immediately, without any addition of lubricants. I still lube my cable and winches on the same schedule, and the Fulton still performs flawlessly.

I wish you well with your worm gear winches and cordless drills. I also wish you well in building a thriving martin colony.

[avesrun]

Thanks John and sounds great. Did your brake winches have jerkiness from onset of usage at new or did the problem progress with age of winch; just curious. Hope the Fultons perform well for you ad infinitum! Happy cranking and watch your top knot!
TimG

[Mark Scott]

Does the tri flow spray leave a sticky residue that nata and bugs will stick to it?

[avesrun]

Hey Mark : Tri-flow does not leave major residue; however I generally only use it on moving parts of the winch (gear cogs, axle). It will last much longer than wd-40. I also spray a tiny amount on the gliders inside the hub at the beginning of the season. I do not spray the winch cable with trif-flow; I use a a product that is specifically for wire rope /cable. I do keep a rag handy when applying any of the above and wipe any of the product that runs onto surfaces where it doesn't need to be. I do usually once or twice mid and/or late season lube the winch and cable if things are excessively dry or there's been a lot of rain. For the hub, while the rack is lowered I will spray some tri-flow between the hub and pole and use a rag or paper towel to catch any that runs out the bottom of the hub. I've never had a problem with insects sticking to anything. Take care and have a great 2016 season.
TimG