When To Take Down Gourds?

[Davlyn]

I live in south georgia and my last pair of martins left the last of june, the
pairs of martins that I had this year which were 5 would come back usually
in the morning time and hang around a while going in and out of their gourds that they successfully raised there young in this season, but I have not seen any in about 2 weeks. So when should I take down my housing? Thanks

[floridasunshinegoddess]

Davlyn,

I was going through posts that haven't been answered and saw yours....... Sorry no one answered you.

I suppose you eventually took your gourds down. Some people who are not bothered by S & S's just leave them up or will plug the entrance holes if they do have S & S's. The gourds (especially naturals) will last longer if you bring them in out of the weather.... if you have room. Of course you will eventually need to take them down to clean them.

We didn't have any hurricanes in my area this year so I left mine up past the hurricane season. I was constantly seeing Martins flying overhead although none landed after the last fledglings left. Still I thought it was good that they could see my site. I'm thinking keeping them up longer will bring me even more Martins this year.

And the day after I took them down to get them ready..... Wouldn't you just know it... That's when I saw Martins circling overhead (on Jan1). I wonder if they were checking to see what happened to the gourds!

Anyway, seems they weren't my Martins..... just passing through and I have my gourds back up now.....

Anyway, hope this answered your question. Good luck to you this year.

Barb

[Davlyn]

Barb, I did take my gourds down in late August, and like you said a few
days later I think I saw martins. But I am getting ready to put them back
up, my new gourd rack should be here today! I am like a kid at christmas
I can't hardly wait!! I spent most all day yesterday modifying my 2 story
trio house from a 12 room compartment to a 6.

I do have a problem with HS though, my neighbor has a John Deere martin house that is full of HS, I have told them about the HS but they never done anything about them, so all I can do is keep using my trap's. I hate when ever I walk out my back door one of the first thing's I hear is HS, that is probably because I despise them so much, I am sure my
feeling's are mutual.

Good luck to you this season!! April

[ben_wood]

Davlyn, what method did you use to convert your Trio to a 6 compartment unit? I'm going to do the same to mine in the next week or so.

[Davlyn]

Hi ben_wood, you can go to the PMCA home page and go to the download
center and they have a complete guide for modifying your trio house, and
it's actually not that hard to do. Good luck! Let me know how it turn's out.

Good luck to you this season, April

[CUL Lou~Mich]

Ben. I'm not Davlyn, but I'll give you an answer. What you need to do is look at the end of the house. There should be four long bolts that go all the way through the house, holding the center wall in. You need to take out the one on the bottom of each wall. Then tip, and remove the center dividers from the top bolt. Then take every other back door out. IE On the top, you want a door in front on the left, and right. Take the center one out in the front. The doors that you take off will go in the middle, where you removed the solid wall. Thus you will have from left to right, on the top floor, from front to back. Door, door, solid wall. Center, Solid wall, door, door. Right side, door, door, solid wall.Then on the bottom, you want the opposite, so it will be Left side, Solid wall, door, door. Center, door, door, solid wall. Right side, solid wall, door, door. Once you get them all arranged thusly, you can put the long bolt/rod back in. Hope this explains it sufficiently. Oh, sometimes that long rod/bolt will break. If it does, just go to the hardware store, and get some short bolts, with nuts to hook the center walls in with. I like this method better than cutting a hole in the center, as you will have sharp edges, PLUS you will have to plug every other door. This way that's all done. CUL Lou

[ben_wood]

Thanks for the info guys!