Good to know, I have some that will be needing replaced soon. I don't know without looking but mine is close to 10 years old....

The best thing to do is to get a screen shot from Google earth of your yard and upload it here. It is hard to get a feel for the best housing position based just on measurements. Seeing how tall the trees are, the house, outbuilding, etc. all can make a difference.

I too use the 3/16 stainless from Lowes. The first T14 I built I bought the cable with the clear plastic. After a couple years the coating broke down and was causing problems, so from then on out its stainless cable.

I can't find the link at this moment but there used to be a picture on the home page of an owl with it's leg extended into a cavity to show just how far it can reach, it is further then a lot of people think....

Once you have an established colony it is ok to take the housing down once they have all fledged and are no longer coming back. When I had a younger colony I would leave my housing up for a month or so extra in case any martins migrating south would find it and maybe consider it for next year.

I've been very happy with mine. Back when I bought it about 10 years ago it was the best bang for the buck. If I remember correctly back then I paid like 220.00 for it including shipping.

I hate to see that. I am sometimes amazed at some of those house/pole set ups in my area that appear to be pretty old and still standing straight. They are obviously neglected but even though the houses are light the poles seem pretty small.

My last ones left town about a week or so ago. I did see a martin flying over my kids high school yesterday afternoon. I'm hoping to get my housing down, cleaned, and stored in the next week or so.

Unless I am seeing something wrong it looks like he is embedding them from flikr???? Many of us used to do the same with photobucket but last year they started charging a monthly fee for the storage and ability to embed photos into forums. I don't know if flikr charges or not, Ive never used them.

I have never had any problem getting tree swallows to nest. If the house is 15 foot high or 4 foot high. We might have a higher population then you but I have them everywhere. Last year we had one of those portable basketball goals with the large square plastic base laying over in my driveway. There...

I live just south of province pond about 1/2 mile so I know where you are. Interesting about the Sulpher Spring. My old property where I had my original colony used to adjoin Summit Lake Property. I was over on the east side, near where the eagles are nesting now, if you have been over there this ye...

I have a AAA gourd rack with 2 inch pole. It holds 16 gourds just fine. In strong winds it will move a little and I lower it if storms are forecasted. It is probably close to 10 years old and still very straight. I wouldn't be afraid to hang 2 more gourds on it.

This link has some answers about T14 pole and some pictures of my original set up. It shows how I recessed the pulley, the wooden carrier, and how I have my winch mounted. The one I build this year is basically the same.

https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... =2&t=35126

I have two of them I built myself. Both of them are on a 3 1/2 (OD) galvanized steel pipe. I think they are commonly used as some type of water pipe. The first one I bought from a contractor friend of mine. The one I got this year was from a local scrap yard. Both were 20 foot long, I put four foot ...

The youngest at my colony are still sticking around and just fledged last week and many people north of us still have martins yet to fledge. I see no reason that yours will have any issues. My guess would be that they won't stick around long after their first flight. When I started my first colony, ...

Jeff good to see you on here. I have heard there is a roost in Louisville, not sure if it is still active or not though. Are you still living in Carthage? I thought I saw a scout report or something that said Sulpher Springs. I am between Mt Summit and Sulpher, didn't know if you were up here or not...

It's hard to tell from a picture exactly how big the trees are and how far away they are. Trees can be an issue but I have a seen colonies near by me that have trees closer then that. I have seen one colony near my old office that had tree branches touching the housing. They are not always a deal br...

Two weeks ago I had about 30 pair plus close to 100 little ones and things were quite busy. The last couple of days I haven't seen hardly any during the day and 20 or so birds are still coming in in the evening. I wasn't home this evening but I am guessing within a week or so I won't have any here u...

Being somewhat educated on State government I wouldn't assume they have extra money around for those type of projects. Like you I fall somewhere in the middle. I have quality housing, I have predator guards and do nest checks up until they start to fledge and I risk causing jumpers. I treat with Sev...

Since most of the martins that fledge from a site won't return to that site the larger the colony that is close to you the more likely you would be to get SY's the next year. Some people keep a smaller colony and take all measures necessary to manage every aspect of it, nest changes, routine nest ch...