I saw last night a video that possums eat copperheads and are immune to the venom, I had no idea but checked youtube and saw some videos on there showing them killing poisonous snakes....

I agree the odds of martins killing any snake is slim. I have seen them act the same way toward HOSP. I have had HOSP sitting on and coming to and from their housing all day and really pay it no attention. I have then shot the HOSP and they will follow it to the ground and act the same way. They don...

I would just get a cheap bottle of the old fashion 3n1 oil next time you are at a hardware store. They used to come in little metal white bottles with red writing. Now they are plastic but cheap and good to have around.

I here you, the adults seem to be flowing in. I had my first scout a week ago and had three Saturday and this morning I had 16 buzzing around. Not sure how many are from here and how many are passing through, I'll know in a couple days....

Some people think adding nesting material gives the cavity that "lived in" look making it appear as martins have stayed there in the past. Some do it just so they don't have to spend as much energy building and as much time on the ground which can be dangerous to them. I usually add some to some cav...

The people physically having to move the pole will be more stressed then the martins over a 20 foot move. I would try to set up the houses in the same formation and oriented the same way and I bet they will be just fine. I think if they just started arriving they haven't even claimed cavities on any...

What type of entrances do you have. I know it happens but I have never seen a sparrow kill an adult martin. When it comes to fighting I have seen SY martins do more fighting then sparrows. I've only seen sparrows peck eggs. I wander if a starling could have gotten in. Especially if you have SREH and...

Let us know which house you have. If it is metal you could get some thin pieces of aluminum flashing or something and rivet it on. If it is a plastic house you could do something similar or you could use some of the corrugated plastic like elections signs are made out of.

Both of my T14's have 3/16 galvanized steel cable. I think it is rated for close to 1,000 lbs which is obviously plenty for my houses. I can't imagine your set up weighs much more, if any, then a T14. My original one has 4 gourds under it too.

Congrats, getting martins your first year is pretty cool. Especially that far north, almost unheard of.

When I build my T14s I just cut out a square hole and the attach a plastic crescent plate over them. I'm guessing you could do the same on a metal house if you don't find any doors. Enlarge the original round hole and the put a plate over it.

I haven't been around the hous much but had my first male show up earlier this week and have seen as many as six at one time. There seems to be three or four that have been here all week.

I've had luck with popcorn as well. The best bait I ever had was a baby HOSP that was due to nest. I caught it fluttering aroung my yard. I put it in my Blaine trap and caught 11 that afternoon. That is my best day of trapping. Once you get one it leave it in as long as you can it will draw in other...

Decoys are great for a distraction when hawks attack. Leave them up. On several occasions over the years I have seen a hawk come crashing into a decoy while the others get away. They go for the slowest moving target most of the time. It doesn't hurt to relocate them a little during the season in cas...

I always use the blue painters tape which doesn't leave any residue. On my T14 I just put my nest boxes in backwards, but painters tape is quick and easy on gourds.

Observed my first ASY male this morning around 10:00 am. Initial instinct it that it is one of mine. My housing was all lowered and he set within 10 feet of me while I raised it and was not spooked at all by my presence. Of course the tree swallows are now flocking over the open gourds. I opened a f...

Just for orientation purposes I will give my advice acting as if the top of the picture is north and the left is west, etc. I think if it were me I would stay with the left red dot for a good east west location but move further south, even south of where the dot on the right side is, south of the ci...

I don't remember exactly but when I got this winch it was like 67.00 on Amazon, maybe 77.00 (It's and D&L brake winch) at the time their worm gear winches were around $100.00 or $110.00. Enough of a difference that I told my self I could put up with a hand crank once a week and put the extra money t...

The only laws would be if the drone (pilot) was intentionally hitting the birds. As for you question, yes the drone blades would kill the bird if it hit one. I have a neighbor who had a small RC airplane for a while and they would go nuts whenever he flew it. If the pilot of the drone was flying rig...

Ill have a total of 48 cavities this year. The gourd rack holds 16 and the 2 T 14's. I also have a bracket to hold 4 extra gourds under my original T14. I might look into the worm gear winch next time I get one. I had good luck with my original brake winch so I just ordered another one of those. Sin...