Male has difficulty entering nest box.

[brent]

Hi everyone. I have a Trendsetter house with SREH entrances. The male parent has difficulty entering. He tries but seems like he cannot. The female enters with little problem. After attempting he waits for her. She'll enter then he gives her (which I assume) the insect he brought for the chicks. Then leaves only to come back and do it all over again. I had the same problem last year so it was suggested that I put some traction tape at the entrance. I did and it helped some. I think this is the same male from last year with the same problem. There are 4, 3 day old chicks in the nest. I can add another strip of traction tape a little further from the entrance. Do you think I should try to file the opening to make it larger or just leave well enough alone? He must be getting in at night, right? Thoughts? Brent

[Martintown33]

That’s a new one to me Brent… I’ve never heard of a Martin not figuring out an SREH, eventually.. you might want to try sitting out there until they come home for the evening, and see if he goes in.. maybe he’s an unusually large male? Have you ever seen him go in before? I’ve never run across this issue before.. good thing is he’s bringing insects…I guess it couldn’t hurt to try slightly enlarging the entrance if you’re certain he’s not able to get in.. sometimes they do that ( appear to struggle ), but then all of a sudden.. zip, they go right in when they really want to.. let us know how this turns out.. very interesting situation..
Good luck,
Rob

[TravisF]

I have a female that has the same problem. I noticed her last year really struggling, and she's back in the same compartment this year. She's nesting in a goliad house, and her entrance is a S&K tunnel with the SREH I added to half the compartments. Last weekend when her and her mate were sitting side by side, it was very obvious that she's larger than him. She's probably 1/2" longer than him, and visibly thicker. I hate to do it, but I'm thinking about removing the tunnel with the SREH and replacing it with a tunnel with a round hole. She can, and does get in, but it just takes some effort. Once she commits, it's slow going with lots of wiggling. What's funny is when she comes out, she never hesitates. I think it's just a reflexive, panicky reaction from not being able to see if something is coming from behind to grab her while she struggles to get in.

I'm not familiar with the trendsetter housing, but if you can enlarge the entrance without leaving any sharp edges or snags, I think I would give that a try.

[C.C.Martins]

Brent focus on that one entrance tomorrow, especially at dusk, lets see if he's just gotten a strange habit and does go in for the night; some way some how he had to sire those chicks right? Inside the cavity perhaps? But then again, these birds are promiscuous.

if you do shave it down, id hesitate on adding more traction tape.

its a strange one, when watching and hoping/praying/willing a martin to go in when they first arrive or at new colony's I tend to think its the person (I'm guilty) and the martin will adjust-your birds are pretty far along.

watch and see what he does at night, if he flies off shave it down a hair.
Tom

[brent]

Tom, he went in at the fall of darkness after several attempts and fly offs. But why is he not entering easily as the female during the day? Especially to feed those chicks? I know he had to be active with nest building and bringing in leaves. His behavior is such that as he begins to enter he acts as though he is struggling then backs out. He then tries again. Then again. Flys off. When the female enters he does the same but that’s when I think he hands off the insect. He flys off. This was happening all afternoon when I was observing. I will not attempt to enlarge the entrance. And I just thought of this…I did add (on the outside of the entrances) wing trap protectors this season so that I can thicken the entrance. Since I did that there have been no wing entrapments. Perhaps if I remove the one on his compartment it might make it easier for him. I used screws to attach them so it will be easy to remove and they work beautifully. I’ll try that first. Thanks, Brent

[TravisF]

I agree wit C.C. If you do enlarge the entrance, I wouldn't do much. I think more than likely, he can enter just like the female I have does. The only reason I'm considering changing the entrance is because I'm worried about her being snatched by a hawk while she struggles to get in at night. Last year before egg laying started, I had a coopers hawk two nights in a row come in right at dark trying to snatch some late porch sitters that hadn't gone in for the night. He was never successful that I know of, but it caused the martins to become very wary when coming in for the night. They would just circle and circle until the very last light, then all at once they'd all just drop from the sky and zip right in. It was quite a sight. That one female though....she'd drop, try for 5 or 10 seconds to get in....fly back up, circle, drop, and try again...over and over, eventually flying to a big oak tree across the gravel road and roosting. She did this until she started incubating eggs. Once chicks were present though, she always went in the compartment for the night.

[Martintown33]

Brent.. that’s good that he went in at night.. but I agree, I think removing the wing entrapment device will solve your problem. I removed all of mine a few years ago, from my crescent entrances, bcuz several of my ASY birds were having difficulty entering with them.. I took them off and they all went in easy. Never had a wing entrapment issue since, so I never put them back on.. let us know how it turns out..
Good luck,
Rob

[brent]

Ok, the dilemma continues.I removed the extra wing entrapment protector and he still doesn't go in with food. What would you do? There are 4 chicks and 2 eggs in there. The 2 eggs are a couple days old and may not hatch. The female gets in and feeds. Do I leave it alone and hope she provides enough food or remove the chicks (tray and all) and file the SERH some? It would take a little while to do and I need to consider the other seven nests in the house. Bottom line...do you think the female can feed those chicks on her own? Brent

[Martintown33]

Damn Brent, I thought for sure removing the wing entrapment would solve it…. I would make a temporary door out of piece of thin plastic, metal, wood, even cardboard, Just cut a hole in it, nothing fancy…remove the actual door, tape or attach it temporarily just so she can in and out to feed,.. put the house back up.. now you can work on filing the whole opening on the actual door, then put it back, and hope big boy goes in!
Let us know,
Rob

[Martintown33]

P.S. Brent, after you enlarge the entrance, it may take a while for the male to realize he can fit in now… so give him some time.. if he still doesn’t go in after a while, then you’ll know it’s a probably a behavioral issue with this particular male… but I guess as long as he’s bringing food and it giving to the female, to feed the chicks, then it still should be ok..
Let us know,
Rob

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

We have had this problem with a male not being able to enter crescent on Trendsetter. We got out a template of the correct size of the crescent. Upon research the crescents on our Trendsetter were about 1/16 in off. Out came the dremel tool with a roll of sandpaper and I sanded each compartment crescent until the template went in and out smoothly. Dad then could enter the nest. One time I sandded the nest box corner to make smooth ingress for Dad. The next year we installed wing entrapment guards inside and out, and again had to dremel them out. My Trensetter porch floor to crescent was too high and i took the plastic floorboard trim and cut to fit under crescent and glued them down which left exactly 1/8" from porch to bottom of crescent. While doing the sanding we put a light wash cloth over the nest to keep shavings off the nest and youngsters.

[brent]

He didn’t enter at all today. He brought food but never entered. Poked his head in and went in about half way but did not enter. I bought a file and filed down the bottom of the SREH. Not thinking to measure, I assumed it was enough but it wasn’t.Tomorrow I will measure to see if the SREH is the size opening it’s suppose to be (1 3/16” H by 3” W). I hate to have to interrupt them again tomorrow but this is really concerning me and I need to know if it’s the SREH size or an extra big ASY male. Had the same problem last year at the same compartment but not as bad so it could be he entrance size or the same male but bigger. It’s happening in another compartment too but not as bad. Why can the females enter so easily? Brent

[Martintown33]

Sorry to hear that he’s still not entering Brent. The good thing is he’s bringing food and the chicks should be fine.. Larry said his crescents were manufactured too small… so I guess it’s best to file to the correct size. Maybe the females aren’t having a problem bcuz they’re a bit smaller? I’m not familiar with that type of house, but if the doors can come off easily, I would do what I suggested in my previous post…if not, a dremmel tool would make your work a lot faster than a file, if you’re concerned about interrupting your martins again.
Good luck,
Rob

[C.C.Martins]

Brent, Id file it down. the interruption will be minimal; just have everything ready. If the chicks were older and crowding the entrance Id think food will pass easier, now they are too small.

[birdman in buckhead]

I've seen this problem many times with males. In my case, it seems they only have problems entering when they are excited. Seems like when they are calm they go in and out with ease. My wife and I were watching one day and wondered if the female (who was inside) was preventing the male from entering for some reason. That day the male gave up and rested on the front porch, then right before dark entered with no problems at all..... worth thinking about the female beating him with a frying pan as he tries to enter

The past 2 years there was a male who would drop food off to the chicks through a small opening between the compartment door and the floor above. This was probably a case of laziness more than anything else, like getting beat up. It was sort of funny watching him peek into the nest area through a vent hole, then drop the food to the chicks.

[Martintown33]

Ha! That is funny.. they are so interesting to observe.. smart dad you have there..
Rob