Thank You, Thank You.....

[Kuemic]

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the PMCA and all of the members on this forum! We have just ended season 2 of our purple martin experience. Season 1, last year, was heart breaking. We had a SY male and female nest, lay 2 eggs, which were destroyed by sparrows. We have learned from that lesson.

This year we modified our trio house to larger compartments plus a Spare-O-Door and crescent entrances, insulated the roof, and added 4 Excluder II gourds. We were very lucky to attract an ASY male and female, who nested in the house and laid 5 eggs, 2 of which hatched. The other 3 eggs were not viable.

After reading many, many posts on this forum, we successfully:

….flipped crickets to our pair and a SY male who also adopted the house
….trapped 46 sparrows using the trio house trap, 2 ground repeating traps, and a trap door box with sparrow audio
….added ventilation to the house plus sun shades when the 100+ degree weather hit
…applied Sevin dust to nesting cavity, no mites or parasites
…performed nest checks every 3-5 days

One baby fledged on the earliest day, July 13, and rode out a severe storm on the top perching rod with mom, made it through 60mph winds. The second baby fledged July 14 in heavy fog. Both babies were gone with parents all day on the 15th, and were escorted by both parents to return overnight for 11 nights, with mom staying in the nest. We did not see them last night, or this evening so we are hopeful they are on their way south!

We absolutely could not have made it through this season without the sound advice and questions answered from Larry and Taxidermy Lady in Illinois, Toy in PA, Steve in LA, Marcus in OK, Kyler in Colby and the countless other members of this forum. I have been a forum stalker for over a year and am so grateful for the wealth of information on this site. I am also very thankful for my husband who weathered all my anxious days and nights, frequent requests for nest checks-live crickets-sun shields-sun shades-ventilation holes…..

We watched a bluebird pair fledge 2 babies. The bluebirds contradicted everything we read about their nesting habits - chose a small, 3 inch deep house we were planning to use as another sparrow trap, over a 2-hole mansion. They nested right below 2 pear trees, next to a fence, with the house 4 feet off the ground, 30 feet from our purple martin pole.

Before the PM’s arrived we placed pine straw in the house and gourd cavities, and when nest building began, we threw small piles on our shop concrete pad. Both the PM’s and the bluebirds grabbed up the pine straw as quick as we laid it out; we watched the female bluebird and PM within a few feet of each other collecting the straw. Several times a red squirrel would make it’s way along the fence towards the BB house and the BB parents would fly at it chirping and clicking their beaks, then in would swoop our PM male and literally buzz the squirrel off the fence, off the roof of a nearby house, and even went after the squirrel on the ground, 30 yards away.

Throughout the season we lowered the trio house from 17 feet to 10 feet and pinned it in place when storms were expected, and beginning July 11 we lowered the house due to a storm, then kept it lowered. The lowered house did not seem to affect the parents or babies. What an absolute joy to watch and listen to these amazing birds!

Next year we plan on a few more trio house modifications and we will place the gourds on their own pole, and make the porches flush with the crescent entrances. We will keep up with this forum and pray for the martins’ safe journey and return!

——Michelle in Topeka

[Kyler]

Welcome to the forum! Am so glad you have been following all the posts and doing everything that people have told me to do to my trio houses! With me not having any of this done or not been able to do it I lost a total of 10 babies this season! Hope I can get these last two to fledged and make it! I really like your martin house and hope you can expand with a few more houses because I got a felling you might have to with all the martins you are going to get in the next couple years by isolating the house and all the other things you did! Good job on getting the babies to fledge! Good luck!

Kyler,

[Kuemic]

Appreciate everything and the well wishes, we've thought a lot about you out there in Colby. Seems the farther west you go in Kansas, the hotter it gets. Good luck to you and your remaining babies! --Michelle in Topeka

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

Michelle,
Congratulations on a successful year and a warm welcome to the forum. Everyone tries to help each other. I've been hosting martins for a number of years and each year has it's own set of ups and downs. We share our experiences with others and it benefits us all, especially our martins. I learn so much from other landlords. So many caring people here....so much knowledge. You came to the right place . Ahhh....another intelligent, informed and pro-active landlord! You are definitely welcome. .
If you are not a PMCA member, please consider joining. A very worthy cause.
Keep in touch.

Judy

[ToyinPA]

CONGRATS on a successful season.

I would also suggest.....keep a daily journal when your season starts....I record the date/weather/temp. Martin adult, egg, chick, counts & any activities that pertain to my colony like a hawk passed over/colony chased it, etc. That way I can look back & see what took place.

If you have any shrubs or potted plants that are wood based you can let them dry out & cut twigs 3-5 inches long. They seem to like thin twigs 1/4 inch or smaller. I toss the twigs in a bucket & let them dry over winter.

Also collect egg shells. Rinse them well & bake them for 20-25 minutes, until crunchy but not brown, at 250 degrees. Then crush them into about 1/4 inch pieces. I use about 4 cups of crushed shells per season for a colony of about 14-15 pair. You can toss them on the ground or a platform. I have a Frizbee screwed to the top of my cloths line post.. My husband drilled a few drain holes in it. The Martin do not care what color it is, so any color will do. Egg shells provide calcium & also grit. The adults will eat them & also feed them to the chicks.

Toy in PA

[Kuemic]

Judy and Toy, your posts have been most helpful!

I am a member of PMCA, enjoy the shopping discounts too.

We have a feeding station and we placed crushed oyster shells and crushed egg shells on the trays. Also spread some on the nearby carport. Purple martins were not interested but the house finches have gobbled them up, preferred the egg shells. I'll continue to save and prepare egg shells for next season, would appreciate any suggestions to get the PM's interested.

I did keep a log and photos of nest checks and sparrow counts, but I really like your idea of daily recording. Thanks so much!

Michelle

[Kyler]

Kuemic,
I raise Coturnix Quail that lays a egg every day! So I use there egg shells for the martins and they go crazy over them!! I also have tried with the chicken egg shells but I cooked them to long! But my grandpa uses oyster shells and his martins love them and they wont touch the quail eggs shells but mine will and they wont touch the oyster shells! I guess it just matter how picky the martins are!

Kyler,

[marcus]

Welcome to the forum and way to go on a successful season.

Marcus

[Anthony Neira]

Congrats Michelle, Nice set up on that Trio, I'm going to post pic,s in the near future showing the top roof edge perch ( Guard Rail ) I install on all my M-12K type roofs. That's a different type of pole clamp/ bracket than the usual Trios I've seen ! I'm also looking into Auto/Racing Ceramic Spray paint to apply on the roofs & walls for heat relief ...we'll see..., Again, That's a great job you've done !

[DornCounty]

welcome!! More KS the more better.

[taxidermy lady]

Yes a warm welcome, when I get martins I should know a great deal about them because of all my friends on here!

[Kuemic]

Appreciate the welcome and all your posts! My husband is the fabricator for all of our brackets, etc. I tell him what I want it to do and he creates it, lol. Next year we're going to try a double roof to help with ventilation and excessive heat.
--Michelle

[Rodger Drye]

Yes you are Welcomed to this Forum. Again, you have come to the right place if you want to learn about Martin husbandry.! A smart well educated Landlord like yourself is most appreciated. Our Bird's will all benefit in the end, and that is our ultimate Goal.!

[Dan R]

Well done Michelle and welcome,
it's good to see someone in my area getting a colony started and on the PMCA forum.