Owl Guards for Troyer Horizontal Gourd

[Charles B]

I have been looking for a way to make an owl guard to attach to a Troyer horizontal gourd. I recall some discussion about this a few years ago, but don't remember seeing any details. My gourds are mounted pretty rigidly under a T-14 house.

I want it to attach quickly, so I could attach it after the birds have committed to a particular gourd. I tried to figure a way to use the owl guards from the PMCA
http://shop.purplemartin.org/Gourd_Rack ... tails.aspx but haven't figured a way yet. Has anyone figured a way to mount them?

I have been playing with a possible way to fashion a similar guard using high tensile wire and a couple of #56 (3 1/16 to 4") hose clamps. The wire is not as stiff as the aluminum rods used on the PMCA guards, but it is a lot stiffer than ordinary fence wire. The same method might work using the aluminum rods available from home centers.

Here are pictures viewing the gourd from the side and the bottom:
Side View: Note the extra wire cross brace.

Bottom View: Note that small holes are drilled in the bottom lip of the porch to help hold the wires.


I have one gourd with eggs now, and am thinking about installing these on that gourd. I probably would add some wire nuts to the ends to prevent the martins from impaling themselves and prevent the wire from poking me in the eye.

Any opinions on this idea?

Thanks,
Charles

[Mhoover]

Nice setup.
You might try gluing some old tennis balls on the ends of the wire to act as bumpers in case your head finds one.

[M.Stephens]

Charles,
I have a gourd rack with THG's that have the PMCA owl guards installed on it. This PMLNT website has pictures of members housing showing a gourd rack like mine and may possibly be mine. Watch the slide show on top of the page and you'll see the THG rack.
http://www.purplemartinlandlordsofnorth ... album.html

[Charles B]

Charles,
Watch the slide show on top of the page and you'll see the THG rack.
http://www.purplemartinlandlordsofnorth ... album.html

Thanks. Image 22 showed what looks like a PMCA guard supported by a bracket attached to the gourd plus two bars attached to the porch assembly. That looks like a way to mount the standard guards. How has it worked for you?
Charles

[M.Stephens]

Charles they work and look good on the rack. I have attached them to all of my THG's including on my T-14 and Lonestar Alamo systems.

[zekeandbelle]

I have been reading some old posts from Charles B. and M. Stephens and John B. about adapting an owl guard for a troyer horizontal.. If Charles or M. Stephens are still on the forum or if anyone else who has adapted owl guards for horizontals is on the forum, would you mind messaging me? I can find photos of what people have done, but no details regarding wire used and how they were attached. thanks much,

jan

[Dave Duit]

Awesome timing for me to install such owl guards at my public site. I currently have a huge bulky owl cage that I will be disassembling this month and mounting this new owl guards idea to the set up. Thank you for the idea. I will also add some sort of safety bumpers to the ends of the guards to ensure martins won't hurt themselves or myself poking an eye out. Possibly bend the ends straight back, then stick them through a small soft ball (possibly a ping pong ball with a small hole drilled through), then curl the protruding tip of the wire at the top of the ball back toward the sky. This would secure the ball onto the wire without a chance of it falling off. The fix would look like a letter C facing skyward with a soft ball going through the letter. I hope this makes sense.

[Dave Duit]

Let me know if you have additional improvements to the idea. The only other addition I could think of would be to slightly bend the ends on the wire under the porch lip 90 degrees downward; to even better secure the wire. But the clamp rings would probably make it sufficient.