S&K house question

[Guest]

I have an S&K 12 family house bought new this year. I am going to expand the rooms to the larger size. The walls have a perforated portion to cut out, but it seems rather small to me. Is anyone familiar with this type of house, and is that hole large enough or would it be good to make it larger? Also, any other tips about this house would be appreciated.

This will be my first year with a Martin house and I want to make it as appealing as possible. I've always lived in areas with lots of trees, but just moved this winter to a nice open lo so I'm going to give it a shot.

Thanks

[Carlton]

The hole between the compartments should be 2 inches in diameter or greater.

[Waydog]

I have that house, and expanded the rooms. Just remove the preforated "punchouts". They are plenty big enough for pass through. Cant help but think the martins love the expansion! One of my 2 pair last year were succesful in the sk house, and have 2 pair claimed it so far!

[DebA]

I had that house the past four years and also changed to six from the get go. The martins did well with the large size rooms and the cut out is perfect like Waydog said. They need a little divider at the bottom to separate the nesting material somewhat from the entrance cavity. Nest styles have changed the past couple of years dependent on materials they use and sometimes they use mud, sometimes not. Last year I had a few build a tall nest so they cut the divider hole in half themselves. They did fine. Good luck!

Deb

[Guest]

Thanks for the quick replies. Hopefully things will go well with it. I plan to build a house or two for next year, but I think this one will be fine for now. Hope so, as it was the only one I could find locally.

Has anyone put something on for perches on the sides? I know the company sells some, but it seems it would be easy to make something for it. Or does it even help to have the extra perches?

Thanks again

[DebA]

I bought the extra perches...don't waste your money or time. I followed someone elses lead from the forum last year. I went to the local ace hardware and bought bamboo garden plant stakes. I guess about four feet long. Relatively inexpensive. I used zip ties and attached them to each porch railing so that they stuck out from the house pretty far on both sides. I even crammed one through the top roof line where my house had a little bit of a gap. The birds loved them and used them all the time. The ones I bought happened to be green colored so they happened to match, although the green did fade through the season.
I will see if I still have a pic.

[DebA]

Here is one from last year...That tree looks close but our trees are forty or fifty feet away, at least. Must be the angle and using zoom on my camera. Huh.

http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/u50 ... ll/605.jpg

[Waydog]

Yep, did the same thing for perches... wal mart tomato plant stakes, from a forum idea too!!

[Guest]

That is a good idea. Looks like it works great. The able on the picture makes it look like they have a TV antenna on their house. No wonder they like it so much

[DebA]

DishNetwork to be exact. Sports package. Not. That was my attempt at a mister. It actually did a pretty good job. If the mister head would stay in the right spot, wired at the top of the house. I mist and ice pack and so far haven't had any fledglings prematurely jump when it is 104 to 114. With supplement feedings of wet thawed crickets in the compartments during high heat that has seemed to help too.
Deb

[AidanRois]

I'll jump in and echo everything said on here. I have that one and I expanded from the start, all families love the expansion, and the passage is perfect. I will give a few tips from what I've learned so far... 1. Perches. Add them. Like was said, don't get the S&K ones, they're useless. Get the plant stakes or dowel sticks or the like. I've done both. They'll love it. I extend mine out at least a foot from the porch, strapping them to the railing with zip ties. It's so worth it. 2. Porch dividers. These are definitely a thought. I didn't do them last year, but they ended up being sorely needed. None got lost, but near fledging, my babies were walkers. They wanted to be all over that porch. 3. Paint that dark roof white. I learned this one the hard way by losing a late nest to heat on the top floor. It's pretty much necessary. Good luck beginning everything! I used this all to start my colony and had 4 pair nest in it with 3 being successful and fledging 14 babies among them. Hope this helps!

Deb and Waydog... That may have been me lol. I figured that out playing around with my tomato stakes, but can't remember if I posted about it though. . We're all geniuses here!

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies. If anyone else has any tips or tricks for this house let me know.

Thanks

[jr 2]

bstone;;;i just set my tri-tel pole today for the same house you have;this is the first year for me using this house but i have had it for several years[ christms present] and it didn't have the cutouts for interior walls but i cut mine 3x3 inch squares when i went too bigger compartments;i have been using trio houses but these s&K ARE REASONLY PRICED IF THEY HOLD UP;; ;i added a couple of the s&k tunnels too the sides of the house;i have some of my rooms in different directions as the birds will have too make a 90 degree turn too get too the nesting area;;also added alumium porches flush with bottom of cresent as i have a big starling problem in this area and i drilled extra 7/8 th vent holes up high in all interior walls in both directions ;;hope this helps a little;have a good year;jr2

[Guest]

The extra vent holes are a good idea. I hope it will hold up for a while. It is the most reasonably priced I've seen. I also hope the pole holds up. I'm a little worried after some things I've read. I've got pins to replace the buttons.

[AidanRois]

Oh yes, definitely replace the buttons. I never had trouble, but like most S&K users, the horror stories of dropped houses scared me. We drilled through the pole and used lock pins to hold. They're working great so far. Extra holes drilled into the top of the doors are next for me in the next few days before my babies are back.

[jr 2]

bstone; forgot too welcome you too the forum;is this your first year hosting martins???;i drilled new hole on my pole and i am using bolts and just leaving the pins in place;;they have a different long pin too go in the holes and it looked safe but i didn't know if it was metal or plastic;;is this what you are using?????

[AidanRois]

JR, are you talking about the new S&K 'key'? I saw that too and it made sense... but being paranoid like I am, I gotta have something more substantial. I had husband drill through the pole; as in straight through from one side to the other. I was going to go the way of a bolt through it with a nut to hold it in place, but husband had a better idea. He brought home from work something he called a 'lock pin'. He said they use them on trailers (he's a landscaper with 2 ton trailers behind his trucks) and they work beautifully; never had a failure. This thing is a bolt with a curved wire bracket through the head that will swing around and snap over the end of the bolt locking the 'pin' (bolt) in place... hence 'lock pin'. You can find them in the tractor and trailer section of your local Tractor Supply. I dunno if they're sold in hardware stores like Home Depot, but they might be. The ones I'm using are 2 1/4" long and up to 1/3" diameter. To me, the thicker, the better, but you could just match it to the size of the hole you drill out. I like these because I can operate them with one hand (since it's all one piece) while holding the pole with the other instead of trying to hold the pole up and fumbling with the nut and bolt.
If we can post links, I'll link you up with the ones I have.. otherwise, I'm sure Google can yield results.

I can try to get a picture of it for y'all if you'd like.

[Tom Christian]

Please consider wing entrapment guards of some kind. It does and will happen at one point or other .
Am using four of these houses on multi-poles with great success.
Like all others, I believe the enlarged quarters. are the most important

Good Luck
Tom

[Louise Chambers]

Are the trailer lock things like this: http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Accessori ... PAodnw4AGA

[Guest]

That's the type of pin I have. Had plenty laying around, but you can find them at most any farm store or hardware store. I haven't put the pole together yet, but I believe this will be more secure than a button of sorts.