My PMs usually use very small oak and wild cherry leaves .

Joe W you can start nest checks when they start bringing in green leaves that way you will have a good idea on when the first eggs are laid , they will lay one egg a day usually in the morning before noon , be sure to look under the green leaves because sometimes the eggs will be under them , eggs b...

Good luck asop I hope you get some better weather around there for you and your martins soon , hope you have a great season .

Congrats on the full house rrmartins I hope you have a great season with lots of fledglings

Delma the male and female will pair up raise their young and defend their nest for the season . However having said that it is common for the male’s to breed with more than one female by doing this it helps to spread the gene pool around , I hope this helps to answer your question.

Hello Fuzzmeister I’m sorry I should have said that I’m located in COLUMBIA , SOUTH CAROLINA the PMs have been here since mid February and yes there is a lot of pre nest activity going on , and the first eggs laid should be in about two weeks.

Thanks Fuzzmeister and good luck to you this season,it would be nice if he started a new colony somewhere but this young SY-M is a southern boy I don’t know if he’d survive all that cold and snow LOL

Thanks Dave , and Bird Brain and good luck to both of you this season . You are right Bird Brain many colony’s have started from another’s overflow, I believe mine started two new colony’s a few blocks away from me last season.

Hello everyone I had the first SY-male show up this afternoon good luck to him on finding an unoccupied gourd because the adults have been here since mid February , and they won’t be giving up their gourd or their female to some young whippersnapper without a scuffle

Thank you rrmartins and I’m sorry to hear about your lab Hannah.

Thank you RobnDebby , very kind of you.

Hello everyone it is with sadness that today my beloved cat speedy passed away after a two year battle with cancer . We got her 15 years ago after my father passed away and she sure helped us through a very rough time in our lives . I write this because our precious pets bring such great joy in all ...

Badger I like to use egg shells and crushed oyster shells like John Miller and pmlover , I have mine out when they arrive I have noticed that they sometimes would eat some around nest building time , but really bring a lot in to the young chicks as they grow.

PMDavid hang in there the SYs have not passed you yet it is still early in your season , my colony started with six gourds three ASY males and two SY females and one ASY female .

Looks like an ASY female to me the SY will be showing up a little later

PMDavid it looks to me like this is gonna be your year I do believe the PMs have have picked your place to raise their kids .

So sorry to hear about the hawk attack , I like to use dove decoys I have them on a cable wire near the martin rack it helps to distract the hawks hopefully giving your martins enough time to escape , but unfortunately even that sometimes won’t help , be sure your colony has as many open flyways as ...

Congratulations on your first arrival , and it’s nice to know he showed up in fine shape , hope you have another great season.

Congrats on your ASYs return , and thank you Courtney for all that you and the NC PM Society members do , helping to fill the sky with purple Martins , have a great season.

Congratulations Tom on your martins arrival I’m sure it won’t be long and he’ll find some friends to bring home hope you have a great season.