Round Holes Vs. SREH Crescent Holes??

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arkansasmartinman
Posts: 51
Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2016 2:42 am
Location: Marion, AR
Martin Colony History: 2015 1st year landlord, put up Coates 12-room house, with round holes, had 10-pairs the first year!
2016-Added a 2nd house. Trendsetter 16-room with SREH, filled up 14 rooms in the 16 room house.
18 pairs, 60 fledged

OK, I'm a 2nd year landlord, that will be going from a 12-room Coates house, to adding the 16-room Trendsetter. I filled up my 12-room house, the 1st year!! I had debated for a few weeks between the 16-room Trendsetter OR the 14-room Lonestar Alamo. After much debate, believe I will be going for the Trendsetter! (Never thought that I would give $1,000 for a birdhouse!! LOL, some think I'm Nuts)

Now comes the decision whether as to get the Round Holes Or the Crescent holes????? I've heard so many things, I DO NOT know what to get!!
My round holes worked out fine last year, some say to stick with the Round. Then others scare me about starlings coming around.
Please help me make my final decision, so that I can get this thing ordered and ready for this season.

Also, one more thing, does anyone know whether the Trendsetter house can be taken down and stored for the winter easily??

Thanks!!
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CraigMo.
Posts: 1480
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:30 pm
Location: Missouri/Lone Jack
Martin Colony History: Active since 2003

Crescent for sure. That will be one thing less to worry about. Starlings are terrible.
Good luck
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RickLe
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2014 9:39 am
Location: TX/Austin

I agree, go with crescent-those starling will find you eventually
Good luck
Rick
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LonesomeDuck
Posts: 59
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:04 pm
Location: Arcadia, IN
Martin Colony History: 2016- Some visitors on my Trendsetter 12, no nesting pairs yet.
2017- More visitors, still no nesting pairs yet.
2018- Added Troyer Horizontal gourds and moved house to more open location. One nesting pair of subadults! 2 eggs, 1 egg hatched.
2019- added Gemini gourd rack. 2 pairs, 10 eggs, 10 hatched.

arkansasmartinman wrote:Also, one more thing, does anyone know whether the Trendsetter house can be taken down and stored for the winter easily??
They do sell a cover bag for the Trendsetters you can put over your birdhouse for the winter. I think it would not be very easy to take the house off of the pole once it's on.
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DornCounty
Posts: 2169
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 3:58 pm
Location: Rural SE Kansas
Martin Colony History: .
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Trio-Jedi

CraigMo. wrote:Crescent for sure. That will be one thing less to worry about. Starlings are terrible.
Good luck

This.. Keep in mind even when you are not around birds can quickly go in and out of a round hole to raid or just snoop around. Aside from protecting from starlings, crescents also make it harder for owls to raid a house.
2017 - Home & Public Colonies - 300 Cavities
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Craig Dyer
Posts: 500
Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 2:24 pm
Location: Nevada, TX
Martin Colony History: Area is rural. Offer 28 compartments...metal housing (Lonestar Goliad) & Supergourds all w/crescent entrance holes. Purple martins are abundant here and eager for quality, well maintained, safe housing. Expect near 100% occupancy this season.

I had the same question when I first started hosting purple martins. I went with crescent entrance holes. Go with crescents. The house sparrows will give you more than enough frustration. Crescents will at least eliminate the starling threat.
Craig Dyer
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