Ever heard of this Starling problem????

threelilkids · Sat Jan 28, 2017 6:34 pm

I went to check houses and found a starling in my house. I have starling resistant holes. I have never had a starling get in till now. I looked at the holes and found that the Starling had ate the plastic on the resistant holes in most of the openings of my 3 houses, even the round ones, Please help as I bought these from the shop here and the cost adds up when you have a lot of openings. I have never seen this before or heard of this, I don't know how to fix this problem so all info will be great. YES the starling did this and not a squirrel, you can see the peck marks. Thanks, Mary

eyeamtheman · Sat Jan 28, 2017 7:52 pm

Shoot it
Problem solved.

eyeamtheman · Sat Jan 28, 2017 7:53 pm

Or trap it

threelilkids · Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:56 pm

HE was stuck in the house because the door came unhooked and I lowered the house, grabbed him and

well he won't be coming back

His mate was in the near by tree calling for him...She is next

I hate these horrible birds. Traps going up this week. I hope all the others choke on the plastic

I thought they were just trying to get in, not eating the openings. Mary

Ravens5281 · Sat Jan 28, 2017 10:16 pm

If u have that many starlings u may want to invest in a Repeating Nest Box Trap!!

Gauxt · Sun Jan 29, 2017 8:03 am

Not sure if there are entrance plates made of aluminum that you could purchase and attach, but if not maybe have some made? Just a thought

K_Adams · Sun Jan 29, 2017 8:23 am

Mary, it's Krista from Denham. What type of housing do you have? You can purchase metal plates for the front. I have a house we hope to modify soon from round holes to starling resistant. Bought the metal fronts from S&K Manufacturing I believe. Check their website.

If you're on Facebook look for the group The Purple Martin Group. Great one to exchange questions and ideas.

threelilkids · Sun Jan 29, 2017 7:56 pm

Thanks you all, YES they are that bad here, YES I do have a repeat trap and it works great I get up to 70 a year but a squirrel nest in it this winter and chewed it up, so my husband is going to fix it.
Thanks, Krista that sounds like what I need. Where in Denham are you, I would love to talk Martin with someone near me. Thanks again, Mary

Ravens5281 · Sun Jan 29, 2017 8:34 pm

Oh ok well that's not good

!!! Yea may want to get that fixed for sure & yea I have squirrel boxes made just for them & put them in trees so they wouldn't do that but in the spring the starlings try to run them out so hopefully I will catch them so they will leave my squirrels & my martins alone!!!

Courtney-NC · Tue Jan 31, 2017 8:27 pm

Squirrels are not the only ones that will chew holes in nestboxes. Woodpeckers have also been known to chisel away at the openings of gourds and houses and can really damage them. I suggest you replace the entrances with metal SREH plates (usually aluminum). The PMCA sells them here:
https://www.purplemartin.org/shop/63/re ... nt-plates/

threelilkids · Tue Jan 31, 2017 8:52 pm

Great thanks, Ok now which do I get? I used the Conley2, But the aluminum comes in crescent or excluder, I have used the crescent but not the excluder, anybody got an idea? Mary

John Barrow · Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:25 pm

Mary, I agree with Courtney that your culprit is probably a woodpecker. I do not think a starling can eat away an entrance, but have had to replace nearly three dozen tunnels at one of my colonies, due to woodpeckers, or a certain female woodpecker, hammering out holes in them. They will knock out the bottom of an entrance to the porch level and/or create holes above the entrance up to a couple of inches in diameter. And they will do that whether they nest in the cavity, or not.
This season I have given up replacing tunnels, and instead, installed wing entrapment guards (WEPs) sold by PMCA, attached to the entrances. This has eliminated woodpecker spaces that should not be seen, and I believe the guards--which are thick and dense--will be beyond the capacity of either woodpeckers or squirrels to penetrate. I have recently modified approx. 20 Troyer gourds at my Sandia colony this season as detailed. We have had a female martin staying in a modified gourd since Jan 21.