The Lewis Mod

[cchild03]

cchild03,
How many Conley II entrances do you currently have?
With Full Lewis Mod, the European Starlings won't even hang around your colony because they will not be able to breach.
The Purple Martins will have no problems entering and exiting the Full Lewis Modified Conley II entrances.

I have not heard a single breach by Starlings after the Full Lewis Mod. I am not guaranteeing it could never happen but so far no problems.

I have 24 Conley IIs. I ordered the WEP yesterday and will look into porch elevation options as well. I also have a ground trap on order and will build a nest box trap for the future. I’ve even enlisted a friend to come shoot when he is able. Starlings have only been a slight problem for me in the past, but I should have been more attentive then ... so I wouldn’t be dealing with 6-7 pairs of them now. Lesson learned. Big time.

[Kegger]

i have 2 in gourds and so far they have kept starlings and sparrow out

[TerryW]

I don't have an old issue of the PMCA publication that shows your modification, Lewis. Brad, from the picture I can't see for sure how you made those pieces of high density PE that you fastened to the front of your Conley 2's. I expect there are others who are wondering, so if I were to decide I wanted to do this modification, and I do have several Troyer's with Conley 2 entrances, I don't have enough info. BTW, I think the high density PE sheet is available on the Internet.

What is the arch dimension? What is the depth of the piece? Is the entry surface slick to the touch? Is it truly like what it looks like, a crescent with depth?

Now those cracked tunnels on the Troyer Horizontal (not a real significant problem, actually) : Yes, the PMCA and Troyer sell each other's products, and are sort of in bed together that way, but that doesn't mean they are in love; in the final analysis they are simply competitors and this is free enterprise. It's naive to think Troyer wouldn't pass off a reject or two to the PMCA or vice versa. It's a bit of a bad side to the free enterprise system, but it is also a very real side, it and of human nature. Both entities have their own versions of entrances; right now it appears that the PMCA's excluder is superior, but thanks to the PMCA we can't reproduce it making it a starling win. Something else that is a bit of a bother, the almost equal pricing of the Troyer flagship, the Horizontal Gourd and the PMCA flagship, its Excluder Gourd.

So, Brad, you like the S&K plastic gourds well enough to have bought some? You like their entrances? Do they keep the starlings out?

You and Lewis appear to have hit on something here, Lewis's idea, and, Brad, you and others carried it out, but you know Guys you almost let this old idea slip through the cracks, now quit congratulating each other and tell us actually how to build it.

I think in its simplest form it may be a crescent entrance with DEPTH.

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

TerryW,
The original Lewis SREH involves increasing the outside depth of the crescent SREH and raising the porch level. The porch surface is slick so there is no traction for the starling's feet. In the process of doing all of the above, the 1 3/16" height of the crescent SREH must be maintained so that purple martins can still enter.
Applying the above principles can vary whether it was originally a crescent SREH of thin aluminum or thin plastic or whether it was originally a Conley II entrance.
Mr. Lewis' original idea came out of desperation to exclude European Starlings from his Safe Haven aluminum house with crescent SREHs. He next applied the Lewis SREH to the Conley II entrance on a Troyer gourd equipped with Troyer tunnel/porch (hence, the Lewis Modification to Conley II Entrance).

[Lewis]

Terry W,

Look at the sticky on this board (look above for "tips for 2019 season" The "UPDATE" article is there just scroll down " PMCA Wing Guards help stop starlings"
Another thing you can do is type " Lewis Modification" in Search on this board and read numerous post on how to make the modification.
If you cut the 1/8 in. HDPE to fit porch the WEP will fit over the sreh and will be flush with floor on the Troyer Horizontal gourd. On other houses or gourds you need to determine thickness to make floor flush with entrance.
You can make your own WEP's

Lewis

[C.C.Martins]

I have two conley entrances adjusted to the lewis mod, starlings do come by and take off. Iv used the WEPS over crescents in natural and plastic gourds as well. Have had zero issues thus far. A starling pair has started to come by but look and leave, an ASY male chased one off yesterday. I sleep well with them.

[Brad Biddle]

Terry. the arc dimension is the same as a standard crescent opening. The upper 1 3/16" of a 3" circle.

The ones I made from 1/2" thick UHMW....

I tried my router table first, just like I used to make the Sintra faceplates and porches for the tunnels. That DID NOT go well. UHMW is not router friendly. The router bit doesn't cut it well, it grabs it and takes chunks out of it. It would be easy to get hurt using a router table with that product so I backed up and punted.

I ended up tracing them out with a black sharpie using a template. I then cut them out to a rough size on my band saw. I then used one of these: https://www.zoro.com/3m-mounted-flap-wh ... lsrc=aw.ds
in my drill press to smooth the entrance "side" of the arc. I had to play with the speed of the drill press to get the best results. The fastest setting smeared the UHMW and the slowest was just too slow. I put a lot of pressure against the sanding drum to get them really smooth, in a hurry.

In the end, I stopped cutting the arc on the outside. I just left them rectangular. It made mounting them easier because I had more options of rivet locations and if I was doing it again, I'd do them all that way. It does make them a little heavier, but those gourds are heavy anyway so I didn't figure a little more would hurt.

By the time I got finished sanding them smooth, some of them were a bit oversized so I had to trim the legs, or rather one leg of the WEP to make sure it lined up flush with the top of the entrance. If they don't line up flush with the top, or at least within 1/32 of an inch of it, then I can't imagine that they'd work very well.

If anybody has any other questions, just ask.

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

As Lewis suggested, there are past posts on the PMCA Forum which outline the reasons why the Lewis Modification works and how it can be applied to different SREH.
http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewt ... lewis+sreh
https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... 6k#p259381
https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... 6k#p260596
https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... 6k#p266327

The 3" (Inside Diameter) Gray Non-Metallic PVC Above Ground/Under Ground UV Resistant Schedule 40 Conduit SKU# 72819 came from Lowe's. They are holding up well the past 4 years in spite of direct exposure to the UV light of the sun.
The 10 feet of 3" Gray PVC Conduit has made a LOT of WEPs over the past 4 years and there is plenty left for more. Not a bad deal for $19.98 plus tax.
I cut the 3" PVC Conduit with a miter saw 3/4" wide that makes 2 WEPs by cutting the circle in half with a band saw.

[bobeteb]

Very good information on the Lewis Mod, might i ask what you use to attach the raised floor to the porch?

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

I like the ability to disassemble and replace any part of the Lewis Mod so I attach the Porch Elevators with 2 of #6-32 x 1/2" long Pan Head Machine Screws and Nylon Insert Nuts. I use only Stainless Steel machine screws and nuts so they don't corrode.
I drill the holes for the screws and nuts with a 9/64" bit.

Some have used plastic push fasteners or aluminum pop rivets to attach the porch elevators.
Others have used Lexel or Liquid Nails to permanently attach the porch elevators but you must make sure everything is lined up perfectly before the glue dries.

[Brad Biddle]

Aluminum pop rivets are easy to replace or remove. Just drill the head off with a drill bit and push them out. Takes about 10 seconds per rivet.

[TerryW]

Much appreciation to all you guys! I believe I get it now. And thanks for pointing out how to find the reading info. I should have used the search bar, sorry!

Slick floor at elevation equal to the bottom of the crescent and the crescent has depth is what it boils down to.

[TerryW]

People are saying their Conley 2’s are not being violated to any degree by starlings. Brad, your experience goes totally against that. I must ask, “Why did you let starlings make such a deep ingress into your very successful martin colony in the first place?” I mean you can shoot can’t you, on your farm setting? Were you pulled away from it?

It seems to me that given Brad’s experience with the Conley 2, starling encroachment of the Conley 2 may be happening all around, especially to people who are gone for a large part of the day from their colony, and these incursions are just not being reported for whatever reason, maybe given the high cost of the Troyers, people just don’t want to admit it, who knows, but there is a good possibility that starlings are compromising the Conley 2 all around.

I want to stress this again: If starling compromise is not happening with the PMCA patented modified excluder openings as is also being claimed all over, then my goodness PMCA, rule in favor of martins over starlings, drop your patent on the modified excluder to allow us to replace the Conley 2’s with the modified excluder, and drop your patent to allow Troyer to put them on his plastic gourds. Course I am assuming Troyer would be willing to do that; I expect he would not, but at least he could if he decided to but more importantly, we could!

[deancamp]

I had not witnessed any breaches on the Conley 2 entrance, but seen many starlings try to push their way in. This morning I seen a starling go into the Conley 2, but it's mate could not make it in. I think they are a good deterrent until they can be shot or trapped. My observation is that the vast majority of starlings can not make it in.

[Brad Biddle]

People are saying their Conley 2’s are not being violated to any degree by starlings. Brad, your experience goes totally against that. I must ask, “Why did you let starlings make such a deep ingress into your very successful martin colony in the first place?” I mean you can shoot can’t you, on your farm setting? Were you pulled away from it?

Yes. Work and another hobby took my focus away from it. When I first started my colony, I worked in a public job. The commercial poultry industry. I was home by 4-5 every day. I could do Martin stuff before and after work most days. Seven years ago my brother and I bought a business in town. Being self-employed cut way into my free time. Once we got over the hurdle of the first few years of basically having to rebuild a dead business, I bought a boat so I could spend more time fishing with my son. He loves to fish. We started doing that 3 springs ago. We'd go an afternoon or two a week, then every Saturday afternoon. I wasn't paying the Martins nearly the attention that I had prior to that. My daughter is the one who actually noticed the issue. I guess the reason that I didn't notice it, is because it's not uncommon for me to see Starlings trying to enter gourds. I see it all the time. Up until a couple years ago, I had never seen one be successful. I do shoot them very often. The problem with that is if 3 Starlings are sitting on a gourd rack and you kill one of them, the other 2 will come back but will fly off every single time they see a door open, or my pickup pulls up. I'm left-handed so I do a lot of shooting from the drivers seat of my pickup. It lends itself to having a great rest for the gun for a steady shot.

I know I have heard anecdotal reports or suggestions that Starlings in the south may be smaller than their northern counterparts. I don't know that I buy that. Bergmann's Rule, as far as I know only applies to mammals, not birds. In my experience, very few males could enter the gourds, but quite a few females could. I supposed that once I had a male Starling, bonded to a gourd rack, it didn't take long for him to start running off Martins. Especially with him not being able to enter the cavities.

[TerryW]

Appreciate your saying, Brad; I knew it had to be something like that, as dedicated as you are.

Those devil starlings are something! Wish I could develop a bit more appreciation for them. You know, they are really powerful flyers. Seem to be able to fly straight up from a standing start, physically strong, with a beak that even a woodpecker probably admires!

The thread I've started in which I ask the PMCA to drop their patent on the modified excluder is a subject to which a lot of people should probably provide feedback. In my absence I have lost touch. I was always a proponent of the crescent with proper dimensions, and I thought it had to have a tractioned porch for the martin to be able to handle it fairly easily. I do question the heavily grooved porches that both Troyer and the PMCA furnish as really overdoing it. Mine were never that heavily tractioned. Maybe the combination of the heavily grooved porches and the PMCA modified excluder is okay, while heavily grooved porching with a Conley 2 is not okay.

[Brad Biddle]

Wish I could develop a bit more appreciation for them.

I wish I could develop a virus to kill every last one of them on this side of the Atlantic. House Sparrows too.