Question about different types of openings

[ColtsDaddy]

We are going to purchase our first gourd rack bundle in the next few months for the 2020 season. My question is about the different type of opening offered through PMCA's website. I haven't seen anywhere that explains the pro and cons of each different type of opening. We know we don't want round. Yes we will have starlings trying to nest so we want the best opening that encourages new colonies and is starling resistant, or as resistant as it can be.

We are in Texas if that matter. haha

Thanks in advance for your input.

[rrmartins]

I started my colony with the clinger entrances with the porches mounted flush to the bottom of the opening. No breaches in ten years. Good luck!!!

[C.C.Martins]

Sir you are going to start a lot of good conversation! Your first coloy? Clinger is a good entrance and cant go wrong with crescents. Avoid round as you have already planned. Whatever entrance you choose, porch placement is important both exterior and interior. As close to flush as you can. Lots of these topics to to search through here. Iv got modified WDC on two gourds, zero issues...starlings take one look and leave. Even the fledgelings took to them like a duck to water.
It wasnt necessary but i put those PMCA wing entrapment crescents over the gourd crescent. No issues at all. Piece of mind for a worry wart, fellow Texan like myself.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

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Sideboards can be attached to ANY entrance. This forces them to go straight in, but the starling has a higher chest cavity, so it cannot enter. It even works on rectangular entrances. The sideboards need to be about 1in thick x 2in tall. This works real good on entrances that are in use that do not stop starlings. I make my own with rectangular entrances. Any type of material works, as I used sintra to modify my entrances, but you could use wood. I attach them using Lexel caulk

[Gauxt]

Emil,
Will the sideboards also prevent or diminish wing entrapment? I have all connley II entrances. Do I place the sideboards flush with the sides of the connley entrance? I lost two males and luckily saved one female this year from entrapment.

[detioh11]

I have both crescent and conelly II entrances. I have had 3 different instances of a bird not wanting to go in the crescent entrances. Some birds will fly right in just like they are a big round hole. The three times I saw a bird not fit they both tried for a half hour - 45 mins to get in and would not enter. I have no doubt they would have fit but were uncomfortable with the tight feeling upon entering. I believe this is why Andy Troyer chose the Connelly II for his gourds. He said in his book he would rather have a couple starlings get in here and there than have a couple martins who don't. I think this is an important consideration for a new colony. The other small colonies around me all have round holes, so the birds weren't used to a SREH. I have had one starling breach one of the crescents believe it or not. It got in and then couldn't get back out lol. I also had one starling breach a conelly II. I am in Michigan where starlings are maybe larger than in the south though??? Just food for thought. You have to have martins before you have to worry about starlings in my mind. If the martins won't use the entrances either then what is the point???

[Lewis]

I would use the Conley II as it is as easy as a round hole for martins to enter. If you have a starling breach the entrance , you can modify it with wing entrapment guards sold by PMCA. You can read about my modification in an article I wrote for the Update. It appears on this Forum as a "sticky" " Tips for 2019 season." I have 20 THG's with Conley II sreh that I modified with the WEP's and have not had a starling get in going on 5 years.

Lewis

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Gaust, the sideboards will COMPLETELY stop wing entrapment. Instead of having a thin entrance plate, you have a thick 90 degree turn at the edge, so the wings cannot get caught. A good distance is 2in apart, but it can be as large as 2.3 (tested). I center the old entrance so that each side is the same. If a small starling can enter an opening with sideboards that is exactly 1-3/16in tall, then it must be much smaller, and I have no way except a pellet gun to stop them

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Detioh11, I have had instances where the entrances were made slightly less than 1-3/16in and that does make it hard for a martin to enter. In fact, when I converted to SREH, most of the plates were too small, and it could have been a disaster, the martins left at nighttime, and came back the next day. I physically made them larger while they were on the rack, and that night they could enter. I now use a gage to check the size of each new entrance to make sure that they are large enough. I cut a piece of sintra at a slight angle, it makes a very good quick check. I marked the spot on the sintra where the size is exactly correct.

[Gauxt]

Thanks Emil. I will install them this off season. I haven't had any starling breeches so I think I will put them flush with the outside edge of the Connelly II entrances. Thanks again

[gotham]

I have both crescent and conelly II entrances. I have had 3 different instances of a bird not wanting to go in the crescent entrances. Some birds will fly right in just like they are a big round hole. The three times I saw a bird not fit they both tried for a half hour - 45 mins to get in and would not enter. I have no doubt they would have fit but were uncomfortable with the tight feeling upon entering. I believe this is why Andy Troyer chose the Connelly II for his gourds. He said in his book he would rather have a couple starlings get in here and there than have a couple martins who don't. I think this is an important consideration for a new colony. The other small colonies around me all have round holes, so the birds weren't used to a SREH. I have had one starling breach one of the crescents believe it or not. It got in and then couldn't get back out lol. I also had one starling breach a conelly II. I am in Michigan where starlings are maybe larger than in the south though??? Just food for thought. You have to have martins before you have to worry about starlings in my mind. If the martins won't use the entrances either then what is the point???

I am very interested to hear that you have had 3 different instances of a bird apparently unable to enter through the crescent entrances despite a 30-45 minute attempt on each of these occasions. This supports my interpretation of a similar experience I had about a month ago (as per my "Chicadee Interference" post). For decades my wife's family had purple martins inhabit a small lakeside martin house with round holes. This success story came to an end last year when the house was taken over by starlings for the very first time. This year we replaced the old house with a Lonestar Alamo martin house with crescent shaped SREH's and were now in the position of starting all over in trying to establish a colony.

It has been a season of disappointment, the biggest of which was when an ASY male and his female partner tried repeatedly to enter a compartment, with the male scrunched down and getting about half way in only to retreat before trying again, all the while with the female encouraging him by pecking at his tail.The pair then flew off but soon returned to go at it again. In the end they gave up, flew away and have not come back. The martin houses in this area, including a colonized one on an adjacent property, all have the round holes. I wondered if the fact that the martins in this locale had not encountered the crescent shaped openings before might have played a role in their failure to enter. The fact that the house had never before been occupied has perhaps been a disincentive to their trying sufficiently hard. One of the forum members (Toy in PA) thought martins should not have this difficulty with the crescent openings but suggested I cover the porches with anti-slip grit tape to provide the martins with traction should any again try to enter (his house came equipped with this porch covering). Despite my having done this and followed some other helpful recommendations of his I have struck out this season.

For next year I am thinking of replacing one of the 3 hole panels on my Lonestar Alamo house with a panel having the round holes, while leaving the other 11 compartments with the crescent shaped SREH's. In this way martins might enter these chambers and provide an incentive for others to make more of an effort to settle in the rest of the house. Should starlings get through the round holes I could block those entrances by reversing their nest trays and still have 11 remaining compartments (or I could replace the panel with the round holes with the original with the crescent SREH's).

Gotham

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Gauxt, I would recommend that you keep the opening no wider than 2.3 inches. If you make it wider then the starling may be able to enter sideways. The purpose of the sideboards is to make the starling go straight in. By making the entrance wider, the sideboards would not help.

[roymg1]

For the type of house we use I have an option to go either way round hole or crescent. I go with the round hole entrance because it's much easier for the Martins to enter. The crescent, if used for this type of house, will be blocked by the nest materials they bring in. Good thing is I have no Starling problem, only Sparrows.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

If you do not have starlings, then I also suggest round holes.

[Lewis]

I still contend that the Conley II is as easy for martins to enter as round holes. I have had both at the same time on THG's and notocied no difference, but before you alter the Conley II , the martins need to learn how to enter the Conley II,i.e., the martins learn to enter the Conley II straight on. If you alter this sreh before the martins learn how to enter you may encounter problems.
I would advise to use the conley II sreh and only modify if necessary.

Lewis

[Brad Biddle]

I sure didn't know there was a place left in the US that didn't have Starlings.

[Dave Reynolds]

...ColtsDaddy ... I started a new colony at one of the local Golf Courses.. I bought ConleyII plates and installed them over the round holes on all the doors on two Trio Houses.. The gourds I used were Troyer Horizontals Gourds with Conley11 entrance.. Everything was Conley11 entrance because I could not watch the houses all the time.. This is my second year, and we have 26 Pair, 99 Hatchlings.. so far this year..

Dave