Trio/Nature House Castle and Mini-Castle are no more

[Matt F.]

There may be some that were already aware of this, but Erva (the company that owns Nature House amongst other things) has discontinued production of the highly revered Castle and Mini-Castle houses.
When Erva bought Nature House back in 2006 and moved manufacturing from Griggsville to Chicago, I (and many others) were hopeful they would carry on the Trio/Nature House tradition indefinitely.
Over time there were changes (some stung more for us Trio/Nature House fanatics than others) like ending the budget DuraCraft line with its signature embossed stucco textured surfaces, ending the TG-12/MSS-12 "spaghetti rails", etc.
There were also product improvements, like precut holes in the inner compartment walls for easy expansion to larger compartments, including Dri-nest subfloors with the M-12K house for the first time in its history, and louvered blank doors for better airflow.
However, for whatever reason (obviously for profit maximization by eliminating the machines and materials associated with the production of components specific to Castle/Mini-Castle houses), they've effectively killed the Castle and Mini-Castle lines.
I'm not a business owner, nor do I pretend to know what it takes to run a successful business, but one has to wonder when a company produces something that is no longer profitable for them, but it's still a great product AND has a special history and significance associated with it, at what point should that company consider selling that product and all its manufacturing components to a company that's interested in continuing to produce it, instead of keeping and killing it altogether?

[C.C.Martins]

Matt, end of an era. They lead the charge through innovation didnt they? Seems like its pure profit driven. It was a quick decline, no spare o doors for sale, no ST1 traps, parts hard to come by. Heck I ended up making spare o doors myself.
Then poles and houses not available. I don't pretend to be business minded either but it comes down to dollars.
They raised generation after generation of martins.

[Matt F.]

They did indeed Tom.
One of the unsung heroes that was behind many of Trio/Nature House innovations that made the housing so management friendly, Martin friendly, and designed to last for decades, was Trio Manufacturing engineer Arthur Vail. Lots of history.

[C.C.Martins]

Well, those that love the houses will keep them close and in good shape.
Think they drove the train and made managing martins easy, it is to them we are able to manage a colony. Like you said though and perhaps I'm wrong, those houses will last a long long tiime. Just because they are no longer available, doesn't mean any are out there.

[jtdurb]

Sad to hear, but if nobody is buying the castle it does not make economic sense to keep producing them. My castle is 30 years old and when I switched to gourds about 18 years ago the martins completely discontinued using the castle. Gourds are so much safer and have so much more usable room inside for the young. In fact in my area most castles have been taken down because of the problems associated with Starlings. I designed my own Star-o-Door and still trap close to 100 Starlings each year in the castle. It was a good product but gourds and t14s will be the standard for Martin housing now.

Tomd