Dave you described a capped egg perfectly , pmlover I posted earlier here about this it might help you , subject ( look for capped eggs )

Thanks for the replies Louise and Spiderman your correct lots of different factors in determining inside temps , it was very interesting to read though the differences between PM house temps and gourds.

That is great to hear Anthony another martin life saved , good work.

Hello everyone I was just wondering today does anyone know of any official or unofficial studies that may have been done regarding temperature difference between a natural gourd and a plastic gourd and what the results showed I use both types , thanks for your replies.

Hello kyler great video thanks for sharing it , I also have two platforms one with crushed egg and oyster shells and one with pine needles and small cherry leaves they love it and your right it is safer for them !

Thanks Dave and Fuzzmeister , I just thought I’d post that so we all can try to save as many baby PMs as possible .

Hello everyone I did a nest check yesterday and there are 10 new baby martins in the world now :grin: but I also noticed two eggs that were capped . Now I’m sure the more experienced landlords know about capped eggs , for those landlords not as experienced a capped egg can happen when one egg hatche...

Thank you terrapincove for providing your PM gourd camera , I sure enjoy looking at it and your other cam’s !

Hi Rob I’ve had a colony for some time now and never had lights around it until this year when a neighbor put up a very bright dusk till dawn security light about 50 feet from my gourd pole i had some worries about the effect it would have but I’m happy to say there seems to be no effect I have just...

That’s great to hear PMDavid so happy for you , keep us posted .

Haven’t heard any updates lately PMDavid how are your birds are they still coming in ?

Rob the only time I’ve had other birds on the platform was if I put mealworms or crickets out then I’d have a robin or mockingbird visit it however they never have bothered my purple Martins , the martins would wait for their turn when I had just crushed oyster or eggshells the other birds didn’t bo...

I go to the auto parts store buy a can of starting fluid spray , put the hosp in a container or bag , I like to use a large coffee container two or three squirts of spray the hosp will go to sleep , painlessly and less messy.

Rob I have two platforms I made each at 6 feet high one 12 by 12 for crushed egg and oyster shells and the other is 12 by 24 for nesting material . Both are about fifteen feet from the gourd rack and the martins love them.

Hi Rob and welcome to PMCA and it’s forum , looks like you have done your homework on purple martins , nice set up it looks great with open flyaways , it looks like you have two females and one male good luck to you I hope you have a great season .

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.