Really the size of the rooms

[sonnya]

I purchased a 16 room house, have it all put together and now I learn the rooms may be too small at 6x6. What is the real deal on size of rooms and if they need to be larger why is Purple Martin selling houses with too small of rooms? Please advise me, Sonny

[sugarcreek]

Its only been determined in the past number of yrs that houses with larger compartments have more success....I'm sure if you read through this sight there is a lot of information that will help you easily enlarge the compartments in your house, there is a very good book that they sell on this sight called a "Purple Martin Journey" it is probably one of the best informational book out on setting location and house types.

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

I highly recommend this PMCA link under the Download Center of the PMCA Website. It explains why enlarged compartments are beneficial to the purple martins and how to modify houses that have 6 x 6 compartments.
https://www.purplemartin.org/uploads/me ... on-434.pdf
Although it discusses Trio houses, the information can be applied to other brands.
It would help anyone commenting on your post to know what brand of purple martin house you have.
Local trivia: Did you know that prior to the railroad, Oenaville, TX was larger than Temple, TX?

[C.C.Martins]

If you want to attract them, please enlarge the compartments your efforts will pay off!

One more "plug" for enlarged compartments: Its frustrating to have busted knuckles and damaged skin on a perfectly good martin house only to realize its not really quite done. I had small cavities all year 2016; watched two beautiful martins walk around the outside of the house, both levels and inspect the holes...never saw them again. Enlarged the cavities, moved the house and there they were next year! And I was extremely blessed. It doesn't stop there...as the folks here indicated your house type may dictate what you need to do next. Mine was a Heath (not popular) but they loved it. Enlarging compartments was easy, adding ventilation, then insulation inside the compartments and under the roof, porch dividers, SREH, venting inside the compartments to the center, re-inforceing the whole thing and crafting the roof so I can lift it up and take it off if need be, then making it available to do next checks...wow! Reason? because I have lots of energy, a little nuts, listened to what the good folks here said to do and did it, and ultimately I wanted to look at the house and (if they come back) say that they will be safe for their short time here, will feel at home and I had the bases covered. last year was tough for me, Martins showed and I was NOT ready..stayed one step ahead and got them through it largely because of the folks here and dumb luck.

That is just the house! Predators, drought, cold and the list goes on...

Take a god long afternoon, pick a topic here and read everything. Then move to the next topic, read that. Apply those principles to your house and the environment and you will have a good start. Don't get frustrated, its worth it...many here have been waiting for years...they are cheerful birds, have wonderful voices and antics, like humans and our activities and trust us, you wont find a wild bird like them anywhere. You spent some money on the house so just some tweaks and you are on the way.

Sorry its so long and wordy, but your efforts will pay off.

[Dale D]

I agree that it would be really worth your effort to enlarge the compartments. It will give your Martin's better protection and allow for larger clutch sizes.

[Dave Reynolds]

Sonny ... Welcome to the forum.. For years the 6X6 rooms was all that was available. But now some companys sell houses with knock outs “between rooms” to help you with the expanded rooms, if you want to. Don’t throw the house away, it still is a good house. Just because you didn’t expand the rooms, doesn’t mean you won’t get any Martins. I have a friend who never expanded his rooms in 12 houses that he had.. He still gets Martins and lots of them. He can’t see any reason to expand the rooms.. He said if it’s not broke, don’t fix it... So now the choice is yours.. Personally,, I have expanded all the rooms in my houses, for the protection it gives from some predators.. Good Luck

Dave

[Martinfarmer]

If your house is of decent quality, consider adding Troyer tunnels with porches. The martins love the Conley 2 entrance, the tunnels provide excellent predator protection. I believe once you have the tunnel installed, room won't be much of an issue because they can safely use the whole cavity.

[flyin-lowe]

Average size of a grown purple martin is 7.5 inches. They "can" and will raise young in a smaller room, imagine a couple of adult and 3-4 young birds in 6 inch deep cavity. You and your family could all sleep in a twin size bed but life is a lot better when you don't. Plus as you can imagine they are an easy target for predators when crammed into a shallow compartment.

[John & Linda - KY]

Would you and your family prefer to live in a 600 sq ft one bedroom apartment or a 2800 sq ft four bedroom house? -- John