When will they arrive

[Robbo]

I used them the first year and had Blow fly investation. I did not catch it quick enough and when I did the Blow flies were hiding under all of the styrofoam in the infected nests. I lost half of that house. I threw away all the styrofoam and only use nest trays with hay and Sevin now. I have not had a Blow fly incident since.

[BillieJR]

Thanks for the pep talk, Martinfarmer! I'll keep trying. It just gets so discouraging after awhile. But I won't give up! thanks again!

[Archer]

I used them the first year and had Blow fly investation. I did not catch it quick enough and when I did the Blow flies were hiding under all of the styrofoam in the infected nests. I lost half of that house. I threw away all the styrofoam and only use nest trays with hay and Sevin now. I have not had a Blow fly incident since.

Thanks, I'll keep my eyes open, but the type of material used to make nest trays has no bearing on blowfly larvae, it could happen in any nest tray. Timely nestchecks are imperative.

[Robbo]

True enough Archer. The thing is I could not find the reason all the nestling were dying until I pulled one styrofoam pad out and it was covered in Blow fly larvae underneath and none on top. That house was bad from the get go and eventually got rid of it. I truly believe in Sevin and cleaning the nest trays if you have them.

[WanderingPM]

We are brand new landlords this year. My husband built a brand new PM house with 6 compartments. It is in a great wide open location, no tress around with a huge dugout(pond) right close. We have now dealt with the sparrows (with a sparrow trap) although that is an ongoing issue and the tree swallows have settled down and finally nested in their nest boxes. But we have not seen a single PM. There are neighbors located about 3 miles from here with 4 huge PM houses on their property and I was hoping to attract some of their birds. I'm finding it very discouraging when reading that it might take four to five years to even have the first PM's interested in your location let alone settle down and nest there. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated by more "seasoned" landlords. Thank you.

In my mind it all about increasing your chances to obtain success as soon as possible. PMs seek environments that provide safety, food, sex and high likelihood of brood success. Priorities should be:
-Pole predator guard - keeps out snakes and raccoons
-6x9 cavities with 90 degree turn to nesting area - reduces likelihood of hawks/owls from reaching in with their legs and talons
-SRHE entrances to keep out starlings - they are slightly harder for PMs to enter but they figure it out and eliminates PM death due to starlings killing the PMs and badies
-If possible, offer traditional and gourd housing - that way if they were raised in one or the other they will feel safe
-Raised nesting boxes with some pine straw & some mud - point is to make it look like PMs successfully brooded there last year
-Darkened cavities - some say the darker the better - not sure why this would be an advantage to the PMs
-Decoys - attracts PM to the housing and if PMs attacked by hawks, the hawks will get the decoy and not the PMs
-Dawnsong - at base of pole...aim speaker(s) to open sky south (direction of migration) and nearest PM colony - some say the high frequencies carry further in the morning hours due to higher humidity
-Be present - hang out near your PM house - human activity gives them comfort that things are safe from hawks and owls
-Food - nothing you can really do here - if you have lots of insects then PMs will be that much more excited to move in

Wish you the best of luck this season! Keep us up to date on your progress.

[Alice]

Thank you to everyone for all their valuable information. It's a bit daunting deciding to be a PM landlord but hopefully I'll have some success this year.

[Archer]

True enough Archer. The thing is I could not find the reason all the nestling were dying until I pulled one styrofoam pad out and it was covered in Blow fly larvae underneath and none on top. That house was bad from the get go and eventually got rid of it. I truly believe in Sevin and cleaning the nest trays if you have them.

Sounds like you had a little different setup, with and additional pad inside the nest tray. I can imagine how they could easily hide under it. My whole floor of the nest tray is styrafoam, so no place to hide. Sorry this happened to you. Experience teaches us better than anything else, thanks for sharing yours.

[Archer]

Alice, there is a lot involved in hosting martins, but, one step at a time. The rewards are worth the effort, for sure.

[Curtis Reil]

What Rob is talking about can happen in any house with a nest tray designed as such. When using the styrofoam you just have to cut the foam so as it fits the allotted space tightly. Which can be a fine line to walk as depending on the construction of the tray, can be damaged when trying to get the foam in there tight like it needs to be. This is where I'd second the use of smearing some mud in there. If your foam doesn't fit tight then you can close up those gaps with the mud. Rob isn't kidding though, those buggers find any crack or nook they can to hide in. I built myself some extra nest trays as well. Helped me big time last year when I had mites here as I was able to sanitize well with Sevin before tackling the next house and so on.

As far as Bob goes for a source, I've called on him several times for advice as I'm still learning the finer points and he has yet to lead me astray. Always been happy to reply to an email or return a call when you have a question whether he has a website or not. I'm not sure what the beef is there but it's none of my concern.

That being said, Rob has offered some help and or guidance. If I were you Alice, I'd take it. He has a successful colony and the more you can shorten the learning curve, the better landlord you can become - sooner. I don't live all that far from Leduc and would be happy to lend a hand or some gear to help you as well. Be it borrowing some decoys or traps, styrofoam etc. I'll hedge a bet and say you get some visitors soon enough. Looks to be a very good ASY return and SY's have been arriving pretty steady the last few days. With as many ASY birds as I'm seeing, competition could be more stiff than usual for housing forcing those SY birds to look elsewhere. I have several here now and they won't stop until around the end of June. I think the latest I've had an SY pair take up shop was June 28th so as mentioned before, you're in prime time to get going.

Wishing you luck.

Curtis

[Gun]

I'm near Cooking Lake. Just had a pair of SY show up today. That makes 3 pair now between 2 houses. I have a colony about 3/4 of a mile west of me and Curtis is about 7-8 Kms east. Hoping for some more overflow yet. Last year when I got started I played a chatter CD from early to about mid morning. I did the same this year until my original pair showed up.I have styrofoam in my boxes too. I also "painted them up with a mud-water-glue mixture and added straw and dead grass.Sure wished I would have started sooner.
Good Luck!!

[Martinfarmer]

I used them the first year and had Blow fly investation. I did not catch it quick enough and when I did the Blow flies were hiding under all of the styrofoam in the infected nests. I lost half of that house. I threw away all the styrofoam and only use nest trays with hay and Sevin now. I have not had a Blow fly incident since.

Thanks, I'll keep my eyes open, but the type of material used to make nest trays has no bearing on blowfly larvae, it could happen in any nest tray. Timely nestchecks are imperative.

Zero experience here for me .... my question is, is moisture a factor with blow flies?

[Robbo]

Yes moisture is a factor or so I have been told. Try and keep your nests as dry as possible but with that said, would you want to live in a house that filled up with water everytime it rained?

[Martinfarmer]

Before I built my Martin Condo I read a lot of posts here. I built a gable roof with good insulation. Most of the boxes don't even get wet on the outside. I designed extra overhang into the roof. I also built a passive cooling system. That circulates air through the boxes when it gets hot.

[Robbo]

Sounds like a nice Martin house, have any pictures? Obviously not a North Star.