I have had moderately good success for the past several years with a cheapo white, plastic, hexagonal two-story house elevated approx. 15 feet above the ground in a fairly open area. I get 6 nesting pairs every year, but can't seem to increase that number. I have just painted the inside of each apartment a dark green and raised the porch railing to prevent fledglings from falling as some have done in the past. I am also building some new wooden houses to be located 30 feet from the current house. Two questions:
1. Is there anything else I can do to the old house that may help occupancy?
2. Must the new houses be painted white? I would like to match the exterior walls with my fencing (terra cotta) with beige roof and porches.
All comments are welcome.
Thanks.
Bill, sounds like you have an excellent location, putting the gourds at the right height, and have some success. I had about the same amount of success with houses. I have several questions:
1) are the rooms in your house 6 x 6, or have you enlarged them to the recommended 12 x 6, so how many rooms do you have in your house?
2) do you have porch dividers between compartments, as sometimes that reduces the domination by some males.
3) the fledgings may be jumping out because you may have mites, so have you checked them for mites. It is best to have a house that you can raise & lower with a winch so you can check the babies and their nests for mites
The painting probably doesn't have much to do with the amount of martins that you have. White is usually recommended to help keep the apartments cool, but others have good success with other colors if there are vents in the houses or gourds.
I have quit using houses because of low occupancy, and because the starlings & sparrows also like houses The martins at my place very much prefer gourds, so would you be willing to consider gourds instead of more houses? On a gourd rack, the holes are about 4 or 5 times as far apart as they are on a house, so this reduces the fighting & domination that you see on a house. My gourds fill up to 90% to 95%, so the martins really do like them. Another idea is to hang 4 gourds under a house, you may like that and it looks good
If you have any questions, feel free to ask, as there are many people that will give their opinion..Good luck this year, the martins should be here in a month, I am excited!
Emil - Thank you for the prompt reply. Monday, I ordered four Natureline gourds and plan to hang them below the hexagonal house. The wooden houses I am building are 4-apartment, 4-story units with 6X12 inch rooms. I will mount 4 houses to one pole with each facing a different direction. I think I will hang gourds under these as well. I plan to install a winch system on the pole for easy inspection.The hexagonal house has 6X6 inch apts. Would it be a good idea to remove the wall between apts to expand to 6X12? If I did that, each apt would have two entry holes side-by-side due to house design. Do I plug one of these holes? I do intend to install porch dividers as the hexagonal house has none.
Also, if I see mites, how do I treat?
Thanks for the advise.
Emil - Thank you for the prompt reply. Monday, I ordered four Natureline gourds and plan to hang them below the hexagonal house. The wooden houses I am building are 4-apartment, 4-story units with 6X12 inch rooms. I will mount 4 houses to one pole with each facing a different direction. I think I will hang gourds under these as well. I plan to install a winch system on the pole for easy inspection.The hexagonal house has 6X6 inch apts. Would it be a good idea to remove the wall between apts to expand to 6X12? If I did that, each apt would have two entry holes side-by-side due to house design. Do I plug one of these holes? I do intend to install porch dividers as the hexagonal house has none.
Also, if I see mites, how do I treat?
Thanks for the advise.
Bill, yes, if you enlarge the compartments, one of the holes could be covered with a plate, and that is recommended.
Mites can be controlled two ways:
1) you can change out the nest and get rid of a bunch of them, but not all of them. If you don't like chemicals, this is recommended.
2) most people use a very small amount of sevin dust, or sevin spray, and put it under the nest. you probably would only need about 1/2 or 1 teaspoon full of sevin under the nest. It is extremely effective, so do not use much.
It sounds like you are in a building mood! Good luck on your houses, I hope that turn out fine. And keep the starlings, sparrows, and snakes away. It is recommended that you use a pole guard to keep the snakes & racoons out of your housing.
beige roof and porches.