house mounted on deck

[Guest]

This will be my 2nd year trying to attract PM's to my location in Ramsey, MN.

Last year I constructed a T-14 and placed it in my back yard in May.

I had martin decoys on the house and bought an outdoor horn speaker that was playing dawnsong in the morning from 3am to 9am and then switched to martin chatter for the rest of the day. Boy the neighbors loved me!!

I had several visitors but the Martins did not really seem to like the location of the house. My back yard has several mature oak trees in it, however I placed it no closer than 30 feet to any tree.

This year I am considering mounting a perky pet 6 compartment house with 16 foot pole on the deck that is attached to the back of my house. My thinking is that it will be a good 5 feet above my house and it will be in a more "open" area away from trees than the T-14 currently is.

I will still leave the T-14 mounted where it is at.

Does anyone see any problems with this?

I am eager to attract some takers this year!

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

If you get the house about 10 to 12ft above the highest part of the roof on your house, you could give that a try...Martins like high houses...

[Guest]

I have a 60 foot crank up tower attached to my house (I'm a ham radio operator as well). I guess I could put a side arm and pulley on the tower and try this method too.

I didn't know that the martins liked being higher than houses.

Maybe this is why they didn't like the T-14 last year. The T-14 is 16' and my roof is about 20.

Man there is so much science behind this hobby. I really just want to get a colony started, from what I'm reading - there is a lot of trial and error here.

Thanks for the input!

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Hawks like to come in low over the roof of the house and surprise the martins. If they come over a high roof, and a low pole, the martin doesn't have a chance.. That is why often it is not a good idea to have a low pole near a house..

[rickluc]

Fordude


You might consider lower as better. I too have several large White Oak tress in my yard. I stayed low to compensate for the trees. The bottom of my gourds hang about 8 feet off the ground.

[Guest]

rickluc

I could move the T-14 pole further from the oak trees and closer to the house, roughly 15' and lower the pole to 8 - 10'.

I still have a couple of weeks before we see any martins here, looks like I have work to do.

Thanks for the input!

[John Miller]

Maybe I don't follow the reasoning for lowering, but I'd keep the T-14 at its present height of 15 and just look for the most open spot you've got. 30 feet from an average tree sounds a little close to me as you are trying to maximize your chances.

That's not to say that super high martin houses for the sake of height alone do well. I have know a few folks who try that -- 20 plus feet -- without success and it greatly increase risk of houses blowing over.
John Miller

[Bernie Nikolai]

Fordude, as a fellow northern martineer even further north than Minnesota, let me suggest a few things that work up here for me.

1/ 30 feet is WAY too close to have mature oak trees from a martin house when you are trying to start a new colony. This might work in the south where there are many martins, but not in the north. I'd suggest 60 to 100 feet away from large mature oak trees, but I know this probably isn't possible. The idea is to get as far as possible, at least 50 ft, and more is better, away from tall trees.

2/ The minimum height for the lowest entrances off the ground should be 14 ft. Higher is even better. I know MANY folks on this forum have martins nesting much lower, even on small posts only a few feet off the ground in some cases. But you are in the north and trying to start a colony. Up in Alberta, you need a 16 ft. pole mounted a foot up on a base pole (17 ft.) in an excellent location with excellent housing to have a chance at attracting martins. Once you get a colony, they will certainly nest lower, but to start one up north, things need to be as close to ideal as you can possibly make them, due to the much lower population of martins.

3/ Using your radio antenna is an excellent idea! If you can crank a house up a good 10 to 20 ft. above the trees and your house, this is your best bet in my humble opinion. Natural gourds or perhaps a styrofoam house/chalets you make (with SREH) would be lightweight, and very effective. As a rule, northern birds prefer more insulated housing than what plastic, or especially metal offers. For what its worth, tests up here have shown martins will nest on the roofs of houses/garages, barns, sheds, BUT THE HOUSE MUST BE 8 FT. ABOVE THE ROOF OR MORE. If its less than 8 ft. above the roof, its unlikely you will get martins to nest. I'm not saying you need to do all this Fordude, or that it will work in Minnesota conditions, but it does work in Alberta conditions, and I think this is your best shot at getting a colony started. Best of luck!

[Guest]

OK, here is what things looked like last summer right before I took the house down.

http://www.fros.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2607

I was considering mooving the T-14 to the position of the Perky Pet plastic house.

This will lower the T-14 from 16' to about 8' - 12'.

OR I could make a new one.

My house backs up to a pond and that is what you see in the top left of the picture.

I have a 6' cedar privacy fence surrounding my backyard.

Suggestions?

[Guest]

Well I'm going to move the house tomorrow.

One of my neighbors recomended I put it in my front yard, which has no trees, however the city street is 30' from my house.

I might just move the perky pet house to the front for this year and consider some higher housing.

[Guss P O'Brien]

It looks like you are right about being too close to big trees. Your housing looks to be in a "hole or valley" instead being conspicuous and in the open.

The pond is a good idea if you can get to the most open part of it. Put it right on the bank if possible or out onto a pier in the pond.

Sometimes using google maps if there are high enough resolution pictures of your yard can be helpful. You can get the birds eye view of your property. I have evaluated some of the places I know to have houses to see what they look like from the air. I think of it as an aircraft looking for a good place to land- wide open. And then you can spot the nearest open water nearby- sometimes it is a hidden pond, creek, or canal that you can only find from the air.

You may choose to share your coordinates or address and get others to evaluate your site from the aerial photos.

[Guest]

Guss,

Thank you for your input!

Unfortunately I do not have easment to the pond, it is privately owned and I am not allowed access to it.

My front yard does have a higer elevation than the back yard, if I am going to get a Higher elevation from the ground, I will have to move to the front, or I could put something on my 60 foot radio tower.

It would probably have to be some kind of modified gourd rack on a sidearm with a pulley and rope so I could perform inspections.

[John Atteberry]

Hello Fordude,
Just was wondering how do you like the Perky pet house set-up and is it a good house and pole? Is easy to operate and are they big compartments? Thanks John!

[Guest]

John,

My wife bought this house for me last year at our local Fleet Farm store for about $60 including pole. This was our first house and we had not talked to any other Purple Martin enthusiasts before we purchased it.

I think it is a decent house as far as plastic housing goes. It is completely modular and has a really nice insert pullout system for nest inspections. It comes with 6 houses and can later be expanded to 12.

Late last summer I brought the house to a long time Martin landlord by my house, Ron Seekamp. Ron's exact words to me were that a lot of thought had been put into the design of this house.

Ron thinks that this house could be easily modified to make more room in it for the nests. He recomended cuting the room divider in half. I have not done any modifications to this house yet but probably will in the next couple of days.

After talking to several people in our area, it seems that martins will almost always prefer wooden housing over plastic, my guess is because of the heat factor. More warmth in the spring and more cooling in the hot of the summer. And I'm guessing that they might even prefer some of these new styrofoam designs over the wood.

At any rate, I am including some photos of this house for you to decide.

Good luck.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I like the floor plan a lot, I wouldn't change a thing...good owl protection is what i like the most.