I have used a T14 for years. When I built mine I staggered the entrances so the top one is on the far right had side of the door, the one below is on the far left side, etc. I have never had any domination issues with the T14.

I assume the driveway type sensors basically work like a garage door sensor and there is only a straight line, similar to a laser been that has to be broken to trip the alarm. I can see anyway you could set it to ensure that an approaching owl would trip it.

Mine acts the same way when I take my T14 off the carrier. If I need to lower it more with only the carrier on the pole I just reach up, grab the carrier, and pull down putting some force on the carrier and it will then work.

I don't have all my notes in front of me but I spent this afternoon taking down my housing, washing the gourds out and getting everything stored for the winter. Typically I do this early in early September but have been busy this year. Last count I had over 30 pair and close to 125 young. I was trul...

I am not sure the weight of your setup but I have a AAA gourd rack with 16 gourds. It is 14 foot in the air and I have had it for close to 10 years and it is straight as an arrow. If I see a storm forecasted I will lower it but over the years there is always one or two good storms a year that come t...

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, ...