Thank you and Houseing Height

[Guest]

John, Emil, byepass, and all, thanks for the warm welcome to the forum. After 5 years of watching it was time to learn how to post. Has any body experimented with minimun houseing heights.

[Dave]

M.H. I have had martin nest at 6 feet above the ground but most will tell you the right height is between 12 and 20 feet above the ground.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

M.H., I also have seen martins at 6ft above the ground and they will nest there if its an older established colony. I have even heard a report of a pair nesting in a bluebird house that was only 4 to 5 ft above the ground.

Martins love to be around other martins, so they will take nearly anything to stay there at the older established colonies.

Its another story when you are trying to attract them, because the new sites are usually chosen by the most open site with the highest poles. Down here in our area, the only reason that they will not nest at a site is trees, if the trees are too close, they will not nest there.

[CUL Lou~Mich]

One member who has had PMs several years was saying he is going to put a couple of gourds at around six feet, on the corner of his patio. He's an experienced landlord, but don't think he would do something if he didn't figure it'd work out. I"ve also heard once or twice about PMs living in BB housing that was only five or six feet off the ground. However, the normal range is as Dave says, twelve to twenty feet up. Hopefully, you have plenty of open space for them to soar and glide in. CUL Lou

[John Atteberry]

Hello M.H. McCormick,
I always had my houses at 12 feet and 14 feet tall. And had martins. So it really doesn't matter the height. I really think the 12 feet would be the lowest I would go because of predators. Thanks John!

[Guest]

A friend of mine had gourds hanging on a barbed wire fence down his driveway. Sure enough, the martins were nesting in several of them. I didn't think they would.......but they did. It probably isn't very safe for them to be that low as it's easy accesss for predators.

[Guest]

Hello MH; In 2005 the bottom of my T-14 was at 11 feet and i had zero birds. The PMs would not even land on the house so i added 4 feet to the pole and got an immediate response. The PMs started checking out the house and i got my first pair of PMs.
My wife thinks i am obsessed with PMs and the ONE T-14 House that i have so i showed her the photos you posted of your colony. My wife still thinks i am obsessed but says you have me beat by a long shot. HEHE
Have a Great Day- Jim

[floridasunshinegoddess]

I keep my poles between 10-12 feet so they are sturdier... (3 of them are telescoping). They are also on a slope which gives them added feet. I have predator guards on all of them.

Last year while lowering one of them, I couldn't get the top pole back up and didn't want to force it or bang on it because I had babies..... So the pole had to stay down at around 7-8 feet. The parents continued to care for their young and they fledged without any problems. However, I don't think they would have originally nested there at that height.

P.S. Any future poles I purchase will have a pulley system!

[Guest]

On the north side of the Wichita Mtns. which are north of Lawton, Ok there is a housing development that has many landlords with their houses not much over 6 feet high. These are new landlords that started out this way. This has to be the most successful area I have every seen. There can't be more than 75 homes and there at least 12 to 18 landlords. Last summer everyone of them had PM's. This area is new to development and there are not many trees. It is also on the north east side of a lake which has a lot of Oklahoma wind. The openness and wind would be major reasons to keep the houses as low as possible. Of course one would only need a short step ladder to do nest checks. This can best be summed up; location, location, location.