The handmade wood hexagonal house

[Lizzie]

As mentioned in another thread, I built new houses after my colony loss ten years ago.
Some of you have seen them before, from when I posted not long after building them.
Some of you may not have seen them, but live in an area where the cheap aluminum hexagonal house is popular to the martins themselves.
I build a wood hex house and it's the only one that has been of interest to any visiting martins on my place over the years. It's also where the pair nested last year.
Interesting to me....I added some aluminum vertical bars in front of the entrance holes, as an extra measure of safety besides the larger divided compartments, and on one side of the house I left the guards off, just as sort of an observation tool.
The pair that nested showed no interest in the cavities without the guard bars, which was surprising to me. I had suspected that the bars would be a deterrent, but that was not the case.

I thought some of you may be interested in seeing how it was constructed, in case you also lived in an area where the heath hexagon is popular.
I also built a square house with larger compartments, and none of the martins ever showed any serious interest in it. so I took it down this year.

http://www.pbase.com/dragonfly/wood_heath_hex

http://www.pbase.com/dragonfly/modified ... rtin_house

http://www.pbase.com/dragonfly/image/122827197

[Evan337]

Lizzie,

This is great. Thanks for posting. Some really good work on these houses. One of the things i enjoy about this hobby is the hands on/opportunity to build your own housing. I've built a couple of T-14s, Two PMCA Gourd Racks and have reworked trio castles, grandpas and mussleman houses. All have been fun projects. I am in the middle of building an S&S repeater trap which has been fun. Making a few modifications along the way.
I really like your hexagon house. I have always wanted to build a wooden hexagon house.

[Lizzie]

Thanks Evan! I'd be happy to get dimensions for you, if you ever decide to do it.
There is an old martin house that I want to use the design for, but I am trying to figure out how to owl-proof it before I do it.
If I can find the pic tomorrow, I'll post it.
It's mostly for aesthetics, but it might be style that martins find attractive.

I have much fun doing these projects!

[Lizzie]

As far as I can tell, this is an old painting of a martin house, but I have no idea when it was done. I found it years ago and saved it, hoping to build one similar at some point.

[BillieJR]

Wow, Lizzie! I am impressed. I could never have the ability to build anything like this and definitely not at all close to this nice, even if I tried. Great job!

[John Miller]

I love the old painting of martins on a wooden house. I also spotted it on the internet a few years back and put it in a slide show I do sometimes about martins ...there's even poop on the roof!

[Dave Reynolds]

Wow, Lizzie! I am impressed. I could never have the ability to build anything like this and definitely not at all close to this nice, even if I tried. Great job!

Lizzie --- I'm going to use "BillyieJR's" words... Impressive, to say the least... Job well done, Great expanded rooms and the vents, super.. Well planned out.. Thanks for sharing....

Dave

[Lizzie]

Thanks all!
John.....I love that house design!
I've wanted to build it for years, but I am undecided on how to design owl guards. I really don't want to build it with 12 inch deep cavities, as I believe it wouldn't look nearly like the concept in my mind, but after my experience with owls, I won't take that risk either.
It will be one of those projects that I do for the love of building things, more than for practicality. Haha!

[Buckeyefarmer]

Nice work! My grandfather built the hex house I started with but it was destroyed by a lightning strike. I’ve always wanted to build another like it but there was literally nothing left but splinters. How do you access the units?

[Lizzie]

To access the cavities, you'd have to make cut-outs and use cover plates screwed on (or otherwise attached).
I don't do nest checks for a couple of reasons...one being that I'm getting too old to drag the 10 ft step ladder out there. If I were going to build one for someone who wanted to access the nests during the breeding season, though, I'd make cut-outs on the wall section where the nest would be built, and use detachable plates, probably made from sheet aluminum.

[Rockchalk]

Really nice work!!!

[Lizzie]

Thanks!

[Matt F.]

I agree - great work Lizzie!
That is a great looking house!

I love the old painting of martins on a wooden house. I also spotted it on the internet a few years back and put it in a slide show I do sometimes about martins ...there's even poop on the roof!

Me too John!
I absolutely love old paintings and photos of Martins and Martin houses.
This particular artwork, was done by Robert Bruce Horsfall in 1912.
It was included in the 1916 book A Year With the Birds, which was written by Alice E. Ball and illustrated by Robert Bruce Horsfall.
Interesting tidbit - on the page for the Purple Martins that has the Martin picture Lizzie referenced, as well as the associated Martin poetry by Alice Ball, Ball specifically mentions house sparrows as follows:

But if sparrows come,
The noisy, selfish, rude intruders
For those homes fight,
Till the vanquished Purple Martins
Take a speedy flight.

This was in 1916 and already folks were already having to deal with those little #%&@ trying to take over their Martin housing!

[Lizzie]

Thanks Matt! It wasn't as difficult as it looks like it should have been. The hardest part was getting all the angles cut and fitting it all together. Each "story" is separate, and they just stack on top of each other. It was a fun project.

[taxidermy lady]

Dang Lizzie it looks like your in a good open area! I think in time you’ll get more nesting martins! Good luck!

[Lizzie]

I think I will too, TL....just a matter of getting the colony started. There is a fair chance of my having at least two pairs nest this year, and they could easily attract more.

[Dave Duit]

On one of my powerpoint martin presentations I used an old picture of what was called the White House; a very large wood martin house that looked like our white ouse in DC.

[Lizzie]

Wow....I bet THAT was pretty cool!
I love looking at some of the really unusual martin houses. I don't know how many of them have actually had good martin populations, but they are interesting.

Last summer, I drove down to the little central Texas town with one of the largest martin colonies in the country. I can't immediately recall the name of the town...you guys may know where I'm talking about.
Unfortunately, the gate is kept closed, so you can't get near the ultra large house, but they have a lot of small satellite houses out there. It was really fun to see!

[Glynn B - LA]

Thought I would share a original water color I own by North Carolina wildlife artist Thomas A Bennett. (1970) I had it professionally reframed under uv protected glass. It’s one of the most beautiful Purple Martin paintings I’ve ever seen.

Glynn

[Lizzie]

That's beautiful Glynn! Thank you!