Purple Martin Forum

What should be the dimensions of a nest try ? length, width, thickness. Should they be flush with hole if full length of compartment?

Thanks Ed ...yes I have them prenested. Will follow the other colony's lead

Either way you go side or door mount I would suggest a 3" hole where you mount your tunnel. ¼" hole in each corner of the tunnel and attach with nylon push pins. I have done Clinger Tunnels this way for years and they hold well. This is a T-10 I built last season with side mount Clinger tunnels. Th...

I live in Central Virginia. I have not seen a PM fly by for weeks. I have a PM colony about a mile away I am visiting today. If the PM's are gone should I go ahead lower the gourds and plan next year? Or keep it up?

So this afternoon around 4:30 three PM did a fly by. I had the dawn song playing....so I assume they were checking out if those decoys were real? Or were they checking out the site for potential next year?

Good info ....how wide and how high are your compartments .? Also do u use nesting trays?

good point . Could vent the sides of the compartment with 3/4 holes

Was thinking of using a Troyer Tunnel with Collar / Porch and attach to one of my T-14 Compartments. Anyone ever tried this? For next year

White-out The T-14 is on a winch system & I have a 6 gourd pole. I just read that the "new" compartment size is a little bigger. I made another Landlord a two compartment cedar with taller compartment height and inch wider. He has two pair of PM;s in each. But he does have an established colony & I ...

So I have a t-14 I built over 8 years ago. I have never had PM's. I used a design plan from PM assoc. with cedar wood painted white. With pullout trays. I have it on a 3"X 3" steel pole in concrete. I am thinking of replacing it with a aluminum house less compartments. Or switch to more gourds (whic...

After several weeks of seeing the Purple Martins Fly over & swoop down at box...last week no sign of them . So whats going on? They made a decision to stay another place? All the suggestion were used .....should I continue with dawnsong?

Thanks for all the thoughts......I have done all which was recommended...except for decoy inside ...I'll try that today. According to the book I have it appears to be an adult female. She frequents daily mostly fly over and swooping down approach to land but doesn't . Like she is trying to see who c...

So just keep it open and keep out the other birds until pm season is over ?

So so far I have just had fly overs & an female stopping in to check out the gourds & PM-14. But not staying. I continue to play the dawn song every day all day. I have nesting material inside gourds. So whats my next step? Just keep other birds from nesting & keep them open? Hope for next year.

In the last few days I have had fly over by two PM's. I am using six gourds. I have Tree Swallows also in my yard but have provided boxes for them 0ver 25 feet away. There are two boxes out of three boxes being used. With the exception of one not in view of the PM gourds. However there are some Tree...

I too have some TS but I have put up some separate housing away from PM housing. I do keep them out of my PM gourds by disrupting their nests as I dodge their swoops onto my head. I asked the guy with all the PM's to trap one in the house I made him & bring over here....

I met up with the house a mile away to see the colony of PM's. He is not engaged in the full duties of a landlord. He had a lot of gourds setup and he is hoping I can get a PM. He & I discussed my next move. I purchased the gourd starter pole & six gourds & after the long rain we had...put that suck...

Another update

Around 9:30 AM today...a male checked out gourd and area. Looked different than the others then flew off in the direction of another colony about 1 mile away

First Update

Last saw them Friday Morning May 15 . Did not see them today.

Will keep u posted