Thunderstorms. Lower the rack at night or not?

[Whippy]

So we have major storms rolling in tonight and I have a pair in my gourds right now. I am considering lowering my rack to half mast to help reduce the impact of the winds.

Since this is my first pair in my first attempt at a colony, I'm not sure if I should lower it or not. I sure don't want them to fly out into the darkness never to be seen again while I am lowering it.

What is your opinion?

Thanks in advance.

Coolwhips

[Ed Svetich-WI]

Don't lower it at night if there are martins in the gourds. They may fly out into the night. If storms are forecast, I lower to half mast before they have settled in for the night. There have been times when the gourds have been down to 6 feet for a couple days of bad weather and the martins continued as if nothing was amiss.

Good luck.

Ed

[Whippy]

Thank you Ed. That what I was thinking but wanted to ask the experts to confirm. I did not get home in time to lower it before they came home.
I mIssed them by 10 minutes.

The rack is pretty sheltered for the most part by the 2nd story of my house so I'll let them ride it out. Hopefully we won't get the brunt of any of the heaviest thunder cells. There is a storm cell just north east of me now in McKinney, TX that is producing baseball sized hail.

Thanks again,

Coolwhips

[Ed Svetich-WI]

Assuming that your gourds are not natural gourds, they should withstand hail. Let us know how everything works out. Thanks for the compliment, but I don't consider myself an expert. I am still learning from my mistakes, as will you.

Ed

[cajun]

We had real bad weather down here in south Louisiana a coupe of weeks ago. We had over quarter size hail here and all of my gourds were ok. We had gust up to 50 mph and I didn't lower my gourd rack and everything was ok. I have Troyer cling plates, THG and TVGs. I also have Super Gourds and Excluder gourds and I had no damage at all and all martins were ok.

[Fireflyfisherman]

Whippy,

That last bad hail storm ruined the roof of my house and beat the hell out of my car. I was working and had to wait until morning to check everything. The poles were raised like normal and the gourds and house were still standing. One of the baseball sized hail put a good sized crack in my Martin house roof but I caulked it and popped it out. It took the bottom floor off a neighbors martin house. These storms really bother me but the martins do fairly well with them. Hope this round of storms passes you over.

Preplan for emergency: if in the future hail ends up taking/breaking pieces of my Martin house I will rivet metal in place and caulk over it to buy time until I can replace what was broken.

[AnnieM]

Hello Whippy, We are on the north side of Canyon Lake, practically next door in Texas miles. The first year we had martins, I went out in a storm and lowered the rack. And yes, the martins did fly out. I didn't know what I was doing or if they would return. The winds were so strong and I was afraid the poles would go over. Fortunately, they were in the gourds the next morning. When I asked on the Forum everyone said, as did Ed, never lower them after dark or the martins will fly out. A week or so ago as the last t-storm approached with an orange and red squall line and wind gusts forecast 40-50mph, I went out before dark and lowered the two racks halfway down. As it happened, when the storm arrived, it wasn't that bad. But you never know with the Texas spring storms. The predator guards are dented from the impact of last year's hail storm that broke three windows and toppled two small trees. As was noted, the martins don't seem to mind, and if we lower them to be on the safe side, both the martins and the landlord will sleep better!

[Okie]

Last year I would lower the Trio all the way upon storm prediction. Did not bother the male at all & he zipped right in. Female was a little spooked but adjusted quickly & went in and rode out the storm in safety.

[Whippy]

Thanks everyone.

They made it through just fine. Since I have their gourd set up to swing, it didn't get bullied around by the quick actions of the pole. Next time I will lower it before dark and am glad I left it alone this time after dark. I just knew if I moved it they would have darted out into the darkness and uninviting conditions.

They are so happy with me they are trying to lure others in. Its fun to watch. No takers yet but they keep trying.

On my nest check today there was one green leaf in their gourd. My wife and I were watching her this morning and she tossed out a dead leaf I put in there last week. She wasn't having any of that.

Coolwhips