Conley II Entrances ??

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Hanover Bill
Posts: 657
Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 3:10 pm
Location: Pennsylvania/Hanover Township
Martin Colony History: 2009 & 10 - 0
2011 & 12 - Visitors
2013 - 2 pr. fledged 9
2014 - 3 pr. fledged 13
2015 - 7 pr. fledged 27
2016 - 15 pr. fledged 72

This is an old question, but what are the feelings out there about the Conley II Entrance and Starlings. I have seen many pros and cons on them. Up until now I am using Excluder II's exclusively, but I am putting up a new gourd rack this season, and since the gourds came with Conley II entrances I was thinking about giving them a try, for some variety in entrances.

From what I have read the Conley II's can be breached occasionally by a Starling, but not on a regular basis.

Thanks;
Hanover Bill.
2009 & 10 - 0
2011 & 12 - Visitors
2013 - 2 pr. fledged 9
2014 - 3 pr. fledged 13
2015 - 7 pr. fledged 27
2016 - 15 pr. fledged 72
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daveh
Posts: 761
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:40 am
Location: Kingsville Mo.

You are right about breaching occasionally but at my place not often at all, maybe once a season. They really struggle to get in and out, which gives me time to get the pellet gun out and take care of the problem. I like the Troyer vertical gourds with conley 11 entrances and the martins do to.
dave
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Carlton
Posts: 1959
Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.

I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.


At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.

At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.

You might be okay up in PA but I did have a problem in Southern Delaware and here in South Florida. In DE I ended up taking my Conley II's off the rack at the marina and replacing them with my older Modified Excluder entrance gourds. Now I had the very same Conley II's in my DE backyard site and never had a problem. Go figure! Now down here in Florida I find that the starlings frequently breech the Conley II's and I ended up modifying all of them with either raised slippery porches level with the bottom of the entrance slot and the dip pressed/filed out or I left the porch floor corrugated and added the wing entrapment guard over the entrance cutting off the upper ends of the slot. Good luck this season, Bill!
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marcus
Posts: 314
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 10:21 pm
Location: Fairland OK
Martin Colony History: Mom n Dad had a plastic 12 unit martin house with some martins as long as I can remember. In 2013 they had 1 pair. I don't think they fledged any. I then started learning how to take care of martins and in 2014 we took that house down and put up a Troyer 18 gourd rack. We had 7 pair with 28 fledged.That summer I built a T-14 (I was only 12). I was also given 4 natural gourds that I hung beneath the T-14. In 2015, we had 23 pair although only 22 pair fledged young. They fledged 88 young. In 2016, we had 36 pair, 210 eggs, 163 hatched, 149 fledge!! One pair fledged 2 broods. In 2017, I had 36 pair with 35 fledging young. They laid 204 eggs, hatched 155, and fledged 152.

I love the Conley II's. The martins love them. The starlings just can't get in them if they are the correct size and only 1/4 in. between the porch and bottom of entrance. I say leave the gourds as they are. You can always adjust later.
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GregB->AR
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:39 pm
Location: NorthWest/Arkansas

I have never had a single breach through the Conley 2 entrances here by a starling, but I have watched them try for a long time before I shot them
Last edited by GregB->AR on Tue Feb 28, 2017 11:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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avesrun
Posts: 1127
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:10 pm
Location: Iowa/West Des Moines
Martin Colony History: Home Site: 2017- 0
2016 - 1st pair, fledged 5
Satellite Site: 2017 (3rd season)
34 pair
Fledged- 102

I believe its the best overall user friendly sreh. I have had 2 breaches in 5 years. But I am in Iowa and apparently more southern states have more issues. I saw your thread earlier inquiring about adding sreh and wanted to chime in that I would recommend incorporating some Conley II plates. If you can use the Troyer Tunnels with Conley II would even be better. I offer a total of around 65 cavities between gourds, trios, Sunset Inns, and a t14. The T14 has all troyer tunnels with conley II. I just added troyer tunnels modified with 45deg. tunnels with Conley II to my sunset inn houses for this season. I have a few crescent openings on trios and a few gourds with clinger tunnels but most everything is conley II. I even modified most of my trio house with conley II plates. Here's photos of my recent modification to a trio and sunset inn housing:
Attachments
TrioWithTunnels.jpg
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SunsetInnWithTunnels.jpg
(73.45 KiB) Not downloaded yet
PMCA Member
Home Site: 2012-15 visitors
2016 - 1st pair, fledged 5
2017-18 Zero
2019- 3 Successful Pr
2020- 21pr, fledged 76
Satellite Site: 2014 - visitors
2015 - 2 pair fledged 9
2016 - 13 pair fledged 44
2017 - 31 pair fledged 118
2018 - 44 pair 163 fledged
2019- 49 pr 219 fledged
2020- 47 pr 209 fledged
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threelilkids
Posts: 386
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:11 pm
Location: Denham Springs, La
Martin Colony History: 2014 1 pair 3 hatched 3 fledged
2015 1 pair 5 hatched 5 fledged
2016 1 pair 5 hatched 4 fledged
2017 2 pair 8 hatched 8 fledged
2018 4 pair 15 hatched

I have starlings bad here, La. but the only time they have breached my conleys is this year because they chewed the conleys bigger. I replaced the conleys and am back in the keep out game. 8)
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