Do I need more gourds?

[jubileevineyard]

This was my first year of having PMs successfully reside in my yard (so very thrilling!). I currently have 4 gourds, 2 of which were occupied this summer.
Should I have more than 4 gourds available for next spring? Thank you.
Laurie in Kansas City

[Les Frampton]

Yes, I world say increase to 6 next year then evaluate further additions.

[Mstan]

Laurie, if you want more martins then I would put up more gourds. I started with twelve gourds. My second year I added a second twelve gourd rack. This being my third year I added four more gourds for a total of twenty eight gourds. Twenty five being occupied. I plan on adding four more gourds for a total of thirty two for next year. I believe that will be my final number of gourds. I am south of St Louis.
Stan

[C.C.Martins]

Laurie,
Congrats on your success! I started with one 6 room house, quickly added 2- 4 unit gourds for 8 gourds and they took off after that.
Yes id echo the others, add more. When I first started my dream was many, many gourd racks full of martins. Now I temper that with "what can I manage?" I'm happy with our numbers.
Wish you success in 2025!
Tom

[Mstan]

Laura, Tom makes a good point. As suggested add more gourds. Tom’s point of being able to manage your colony is very important. The joy of the martins for me has been landlording. I believe the goal of a landlord is to provide a good safe clean environment for the martins. The end goal is successful fledging of the martins. I hope you have good years ahead of you with your martins, I believe you’re off to a good start.
Stan

[flyin-lowe]

You can see my growth rates in my signature below. Colonies can grow very quickly, but often times you won't reach 100% occupancy rates. You could offer 10 gourds and only have 7 or 8 pair year after year and if you offer 30 gourds the next year you might end up with 20 plus pair. Once you get a colony established you will keep growing as they love to nest together. Investigating SY martins will choose a site full of ASY martins over a new location.

[Jones4381]

I'm with CC Martins on this one...Everyone I've seen post in here and assume those that don't but host Martins are doing their best to provide good housing and practices. Figuring out the numbers of houses is an individual decision for each site and owner. I'm at 60 cavities and I'm certain I'm at capacity for me at this current stage in my life. I'm actually debating to drop to 48...we'll see next Spring.

[flyin-lowe]

I agree Jones... When I was younger my goal was to have 100 nesting pair. The last few years I have had 68 cavities and every fall when I am cleaning everything up I realize I don't need anymore. The older I get the more I realize I don't have the time to properly care for any more cavities than I have now.

[Jones4381]

I agree Jones... When I was younger my goal was to have 100 nesting pair. The last few years I have had 68 cavities and every fall when I am cleaning everything up I realize I don't need anymore. The older I get the more I realize I don't have the time to properly care for any more cavities than I have now.

100% Flying Lowe!!

[Dave Reynolds]

,, Yes I would add a few more gourds... Just keep in mind the amount of work it takes for the large colonies. I'm getting up in my upper 70's, so I'm keeping my colony between 32 and 48 rooms. That's about all I need for now,, Good Luck...

Dave

[Ed Svetich-WI]

The first question you should ask is how many gourds you can effectively manage. Having an active martin colony is more than numbers of gourds. I began with 12 cavities and eventually had 36 cavities. That was years ago. Over time, after achieving a full house and dealing with the ever present challenges such as weather, predators, vermin and the time element, I realized that the math did not work.

The math was the actual number of fledglings at the end of a successful season. I counted eggs, the number of young that hatched and I guessed at the number fledged. I eventually kept copious notes, began frequent nest replacements and actually got a handle on "producing" martins to increase the number of martins here in Central Wisconsin. It took me almost 20 years to get that nesting pair. I mentored several landlords who now have thriving colonies. Numbers in this part of Wisconsin are up.

Fast forward to 2022-2024 and I now have only 12 gourds, down fron 36 cavities. 65 eggs in 2022, 60 hatched and 58 fledged for 98%. Last year 69 eggs, 62 hatched and 61 fledged for 98%. This year 64 eggs, 57 hatched and the last of 57 fledged 100%. I know this because I replace nests three times every season and find the blow flies and wet nests to do everything to prevent mortality in the nests.

At this point in your desire to increase your number of cavities, I suggest a slow pace for several reasons. 12 total cavities is a nice manageable number for expansion. Go slow and don't over commit. The first is cost of gourds, housing and assundry items as this is not an inexpensive endeavor. I know a few martin landlords who went Cadilac when a Chevy would have been a better choice. Second is to learn how much time you have to manage more cavities, and finally defining success. I define success as the satisfaction of knowing how many martins that you were responsible for producing rather than fledging a nebulous "a lot" because you had too many cavities to really know.

Good luck in producing as many martins as possible.

Ed

[jubileevineyard]

Thank you very much for all of your friendly and helpful replies. I will add just two more gourds before next spring and wait with great anticipation.