New House

[Guest]

I am so excited. I just picked up a 24-hole trio castle house with pole and winch for nothing. I've seen this house and pole in a farmer's field for the past couple of years. It was never hoisted up and was filled with sparrow nests. Today I made it point to stop and ask if they wanted to get rid of it. Too my surprise he said, "yes". He didn't want anything for it either.

Last summer was my first year and I put up an 8-hole aluminum with 3 plastic gourds below it. I got three nesting pair and one bachelor. I(they) fledged 13 young. I had a problem with an owl but he never was got any of my martins. After I made a homemade owl guard he left them alone.

Now I can offer 35 nesting cavities total and can't wait to clean this house up and get another owl guard fixed-up for it!!! To bad it'll be about another 3-months before they show up.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

If you have owls, a suggestion may help to keep owls from reaching the martins:

1) Convert all of your housing so that each cavity is 12 inches deep instead of 6in deep. This will greatly help the owl situation

2) you also could wrap the house with 2inches x 4inches yard fence wire. The martins can get thru the wire but it puts the owls further away from the martins.

Your idea of owl guards is good, I hope it works good for you. What kind of owl guard did you use?

good luck

[Guest]

I made the guard out of 1/4 wooden dowls. They are about 3-feet long and I extended them above the house and past the sides to discourage the owl from landing on the house. The martins loved the extra perching space also.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I also have owls, a lot of them, and I know that some of them really can get persistent, trying to catch the martins. I am glad that the dowels kept them away, that sounds good.

[Martin man RI]

Nesto
Do your sell a favor and double size the units Martins perfer larger units
and the females will have more eggs and chicks trust me six by six units
seem to hold back on the larger number of eggs the females will produce
and you will have more martins than you can ever imagine, with the six by six by twelve unit, and with a larger unit the birds are protected from cold
winds in the early spring and cold rain. With the old trio units its my feeling
that the birds are not protected at all from the elements. Due to the large
hole and small unit. (its no better than being on a tree branch exposed)
and add crecent doors too! The birds will be fine once they get use to them.
Ray in RI

[Guest]

It was pretty windy and cold yesterday so I didn't get to inspect the cavities that much. Are there directions somewhere on this site to increase the cavities for the trio? I admit I haven't looked before asking this questions.


Thanks,

[Adam Romain]

Nesto,

If you will click on the Archives button at the top of the page and go to the Housing Improvements section, you will find what you are looking for. Moreover, there's plenty of additional materials regarding the Trio that you may find helpful. Hope the house fills up for you!!!

[jonkertb]

Nesto....I'M JEALOUS.....been looking for another trio castle for over a year....wife hates my driving cause I'm busy looking in all the side yards etc to see if I can spot one to ask about!!!

I have two that I've converted by drilling with a round hole saw between compartments so it goes from 24 down to 12 but I get 100% occupancy also. I also made porch dividers that I put on three sides with pop rivets which may have helped the 100% figure. All of my doors have been modified with Sandy's SREH plates.

Love those Trios and if anyone wants to sell one around Indiana let me know
Tom

[Guest]

Tom,

I will try the porch dividers also.

Thanks,

[J Getting]

jonkertb,

Where can I find Sandy's SREH plates? Do you make them, or buy them, or what?
I know that PMCA has different types of SREH plates for sale, but I don't recall anything about Sandy's plates... Jim

[Guest]

You can buy some of them straight from the PMCA.