Looking for a different martin house
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Guest
I started out with a Heath house this year and have quickly learned that they are not very user friendly. I've looked at so many different houses for next year and it's hard to decide which one to buy. Can someone offer opinions on what is the best type of house for martins and the easiest to maintain for landlords?
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Guest
If I were buying my 1st choice would be one of the Lonestar aluminum houses, I would not rule out the Trendsetter line either.
If you want to build a house the sky's the limit. The nice thing about building you own is the possibility of incorporating desired features from different models.
If you want to build a house the sky's the limit. The nice thing about building you own is the possibility of incorporating desired features from different models.
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John Miller
- Posts: 4866
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Hey Smartin
Well, some opinions (not necessarily representing the Forum). Ha.
I haven't had a chance to examine one in my hands, but the Trendsetter line looks very good. The units are spaced around the perimeter (about only good feature of Heath) for better occupancy, with off-set holes for owl protection, deeper porches to help deflect owls and to offer more shade.
Less costly, I'd look at the Coates Water's Edge Suites (I do have experience with these). The design where martins make a left or right turn to enter the nesting chamber offers good owl protection, and the units are fairly well spaced out. Some folks are suggesting opening up the entrance hole some in the interior wall leading into the nesting chamber.
Trio houses are still good, when modified, and parts are easily available from the PMCA or direct.
The PMCA "multi purpose" pole gets rave reviews , and you could put two smaller aluminum houses on it. It has a rope and pully system, which is easy to operate.
What ever house you choose, hang a few gourds below. It's worked for me and for many others here to help get a colony started.
A timely question...Let's see what others here have to say.
John Miller,
St. Louis, Mo
Well, some opinions (not necessarily representing the Forum). Ha.
I haven't had a chance to examine one in my hands, but the Trendsetter line looks very good. The units are spaced around the perimeter (about only good feature of Heath) for better occupancy, with off-set holes for owl protection, deeper porches to help deflect owls and to offer more shade.
Less costly, I'd look at the Coates Water's Edge Suites (I do have experience with these). The design where martins make a left or right turn to enter the nesting chamber offers good owl protection, and the units are fairly well spaced out. Some folks are suggesting opening up the entrance hole some in the interior wall leading into the nesting chamber.
Trio houses are still good, when modified, and parts are easily available from the PMCA or direct.
The PMCA "multi purpose" pole gets rave reviews , and you could put two smaller aluminum houses on it. It has a rope and pully system, which is easy to operate.
What ever house you choose, hang a few gourds below. It's worked for me and for many others here to help get a colony started.
A timely question...Let's see what others here have to say.
John Miller,
St. Louis, Mo
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Laverne
- Posts: 2216
- Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2004 1:58 pm
- Location: TX/Alvin
- Martin Colony History: Erected 1st house in 1997. Birds were checking it out before Mike got down from the ladder. Six cavities had a little colony 1st year. Grown to 88 cavities all gourds with near 100% occupancy. Most important factor for success is rain = bugs.
I started out with a little wooden homemade house and added three more wooden homemade houses. They were well liked by the PMs and produced a lot of PM young. Nest checking proved that they never had more than 60% occupancy. I added a rack of home grown natural gourds which the PMs fought over and the gourd rack had 100% occupancy. I took down all the wooden houses and put up all gourds (plastic). This season we offered 48 gourds. 43 of which sheltered active nests which produced approximately 160 fledglings (I haven't finished my paperwork) 
The five unoccupied gourds were claimed by and defended by ASY Males. Two of them actually held active nests and eggs at one time - but, did not hatch...
The plastic gourd is easy to deal with. Access hole is large enough for easy nestchecking. Access hole is not large enough for simple nest changing. I remedied this problem by having extra gourds on hand to swap out when a nest change is required. End of season clean up is simple. They are light weight (compared to a house) and storage is no problem. They require no painting - they won't rot - - - just call me the lazy landlord
... and, of course, you must remember that down here in Texas you can hang a boot on a fence post and the Purple Martins will move into it.
This article does not represent the opinions of "The Forum" or the PMCA. It is simply the history of this landlord's colony and her opinion of different styles of PM housing.
I Love my Purple Martin colony!!!
The five unoccupied gourds were claimed by and defended by ASY Males. Two of them actually held active nests and eggs at one time - but, did not hatch...The plastic gourd is easy to deal with. Access hole is large enough for easy nestchecking. Access hole is not large enough for simple nest changing. I remedied this problem by having extra gourds on hand to swap out when a nest change is required. End of season clean up is simple. They are light weight (compared to a house) and storage is no problem. They require no painting - they won't rot - - - just call me the lazy landlord
... and, of course, you must remember that down here in Texas you can hang a boot on a fence post and the Purple Martins will move into it.
This article does not represent the opinions of "The Forum" or the PMCA. It is simply the history of this landlord's colony and her opinion of different styles of PM housing.
I Love my Purple Martin colony!!!
Sincerely,
Laverne
Laverne
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Guest
I have been happy with 3 Trio TG-12 houses, modified to larger compartments, with SREH entries. I was also happy with the acquisition cost: $0. By just asking, I got one from in front of a hospital, one from in front of a nursing home, and one from a neighbor, all of which never did attract those "mosquito-eating" martins. The houses and their poles/pulley systems required rework and replacement parts, but I was lucky to get full occupancy in the housing this year, including the 2 plastic gourds suspended below each house.
The Trio TG-12 (Grandpa) is now the Naturehouse MSS-12 Martin Safety System. You can find it, along with other houses that have been recommended to you, in the PMCA Shop at the top of the page.
The Trio TG-12 (Grandpa) is now the Naturehouse MSS-12 Martin Safety System. You can find it, along with other houses that have been recommended to you, in the PMCA Shop at the top of the page.
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Guest
The Trio house is well built as any on the market for the price, I believe. I just got from UPS the duracraft 12N. Just took a peek in the box & already impressed from what I see. Will convert them to a larger size like I did my tg 12 Trio this winter.
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Guest
Thanks to everybody for the helpful tips on martin houses. I'm ready to start looking and ordering for next year!
Having several types of Martin housing that I am working with I can give you my opinion on several types. Bear in mind that this was my first year as a landlord and the martins preferences may change in subsequent years. I had Coates Waterside houses (3, two of them on a multipurpose pole with 4 troyer gourds hung below and one on a telescoping pole), 1 Troyer T-14 with 4 troyer gourds, 1 trendsetter with excluder entrances, 1 deluxe 12 gourd rack with super gourds, 1 deluxe 12 gourd rack with troyer gourds round and crescent entrances, 1 deluxe 24 gourd rack with half troyer and half super gourds.
Since it was my first year I had six nesting pairs that fledged young and lots of bachelor males that claimed nest cavities but didn't produce. The martins clearly preferred the gourds and the troyer gourds to the super gourds. 5 pairs nested in gourds, 3 in troyers and 2 in super gourds. 1 pair nested in the T-14. I had birds build nests and roost in all of the houses but of any of the houses, only the T-14 had an actual nest with chicks. Lots of SY birds claimed compartments in the Coates and Trendsetter but no one actually nested. They only claimed these houses when the other gourds and the t-14 were claimed by other martins. My houses were spread out and were from 100 yards to 1 mile apart. I noticed that some of the SY males (I could recognize them individually from their feather patterns) claimed compartments and or gourds in several houses. The group of SY birds (7 to 10 individuals) would fly from house to house each male would sing and display in or in front of their chosen gourd and then fly to the next house and do the same. Each male always claimed the same compartment each time they visited. This might have been possible because there were so many compartments available. In future years when the houses have higher occupancy rates this might not be possible for them.
Although martins readily entered and investigated the Coates and the Trendsetter houses the birds clearly preferred to nest in gourds. The Trendsetter is a nice looking house and if the optional nest trays are used they provide a decent nest compartment. The doors for each compartment are inconvenient and you have to jiggle and struggle with each flimsy aluminum door to get the compartment open and closed. Not bad, just inconvenient. Also if the pole was square it would give the house better stability in windy weather.
The Coates waterside house also has the inconvenient door openings and doesn't have the convenience of a nest tray for nest changes. Since the door wedges into a small slot on the floor they don't always stay tightly closed if there is a slight variance in the door or the floor. I jammed dimes into the slot to make sure that they didn't pop open or an Owl could pull it open. What the Coates waterside house has to offer is price. The martins cleary preferred the gourds hanging below the house to the house itself which was used as a perch. As my martin numbers grow and availability of compartments becomes tighter, I am sure birds will utilize the house itself, but why not give the birds the housing they prefer and just put up gourds.
One pair of Martins used the T-14 house. The pair claimed and built 3 beautiful nests but only used one. With the nest trays, nest changes were a breeze. The T-14 is more complicated to assemble and erect but once it is up the nest checks are quick and easy. The doors are secure and open easily. The house moves up and down the pole easily and with the metal pole it is very stable in the wind. It is a joy to use and since it is wood it has better insulation properties than the aluminum houses. Before actual nesting started, I had quite a number birds that roosted in the house on those cold Feburary and March nights here in Florida.
The birds really seemed to prefer the gourds and the deluxe gourd racks are extremely easy to erect and do nest checks. They are also a bit more reasonably priced than Trendsetter, Lonestar or T-14's. As far as nest checks they are easy and can be done very quickly. I greatly prefer the troyer gourds because of predator safety from Owls and the depth of the nest cavity. Since my birds used the troyers and super gourds in a 3/2 ratio I can't really prove that the troyers are prefered but hopefully next year I will have a larger sample size to judge from.
From a landlords standpoint, I think the T-14 is one of the best that I have tried, but from the Martins perspective I think the gourds are prefered houseing. Aluminum housing is used by martins but in the case with my colony it is definately not the first choice of the birds. I will continue to offer it as an option since I already have them, but I don't think I will purchase any more. I haven't tried the Lonestar houses and they get rave reviews from many landlords (especially in Texas. Coincidence?). I would have tried them but they are priced a bit on the high side. (The trendsetter is not cheap either.)
I hope my experience is helpful to you in deciding which Martin housing to use.
Good luck
Sincerely
James
Since it was my first year I had six nesting pairs that fledged young and lots of bachelor males that claimed nest cavities but didn't produce. The martins clearly preferred the gourds and the troyer gourds to the super gourds. 5 pairs nested in gourds, 3 in troyers and 2 in super gourds. 1 pair nested in the T-14. I had birds build nests and roost in all of the houses but of any of the houses, only the T-14 had an actual nest with chicks. Lots of SY birds claimed compartments in the Coates and Trendsetter but no one actually nested. They only claimed these houses when the other gourds and the t-14 were claimed by other martins. My houses were spread out and were from 100 yards to 1 mile apart. I noticed that some of the SY males (I could recognize them individually from their feather patterns) claimed compartments and or gourds in several houses. The group of SY birds (7 to 10 individuals) would fly from house to house each male would sing and display in or in front of their chosen gourd and then fly to the next house and do the same. Each male always claimed the same compartment each time they visited. This might have been possible because there were so many compartments available. In future years when the houses have higher occupancy rates this might not be possible for them.
Although martins readily entered and investigated the Coates and the Trendsetter houses the birds clearly preferred to nest in gourds. The Trendsetter is a nice looking house and if the optional nest trays are used they provide a decent nest compartment. The doors for each compartment are inconvenient and you have to jiggle and struggle with each flimsy aluminum door to get the compartment open and closed. Not bad, just inconvenient. Also if the pole was square it would give the house better stability in windy weather.
The Coates waterside house also has the inconvenient door openings and doesn't have the convenience of a nest tray for nest changes. Since the door wedges into a small slot on the floor they don't always stay tightly closed if there is a slight variance in the door or the floor. I jammed dimes into the slot to make sure that they didn't pop open or an Owl could pull it open. What the Coates waterside house has to offer is price. The martins cleary preferred the gourds hanging below the house to the house itself which was used as a perch. As my martin numbers grow and availability of compartments becomes tighter, I am sure birds will utilize the house itself, but why not give the birds the housing they prefer and just put up gourds.
One pair of Martins used the T-14 house. The pair claimed and built 3 beautiful nests but only used one. With the nest trays, nest changes were a breeze. The T-14 is more complicated to assemble and erect but once it is up the nest checks are quick and easy. The doors are secure and open easily. The house moves up and down the pole easily and with the metal pole it is very stable in the wind. It is a joy to use and since it is wood it has better insulation properties than the aluminum houses. Before actual nesting started, I had quite a number birds that roosted in the house on those cold Feburary and March nights here in Florida.
The birds really seemed to prefer the gourds and the deluxe gourd racks are extremely easy to erect and do nest checks. They are also a bit more reasonably priced than Trendsetter, Lonestar or T-14's. As far as nest checks they are easy and can be done very quickly. I greatly prefer the troyer gourds because of predator safety from Owls and the depth of the nest cavity. Since my birds used the troyers and super gourds in a 3/2 ratio I can't really prove that the troyers are prefered but hopefully next year I will have a larger sample size to judge from.
From a landlords standpoint, I think the T-14 is one of the best that I have tried, but from the Martins perspective I think the gourds are prefered houseing. Aluminum housing is used by martins but in the case with my colony it is definately not the first choice of the birds. I will continue to offer it as an option since I already have them, but I don't think I will purchase any more. I haven't tried the Lonestar houses and they get rave reviews from many landlords (especially in Texas. Coincidence?). I would have tried them but they are priced a bit on the high side. (The trendsetter is not cheap either.)
I hope my experience is helpful to you in deciding which Martin housing to use.
Good luck
Sincerely
James
James Mejeur