I bought the 3" square poles also.

So far they have seen 60mph winds with 28 gourds attached and are still perfect.

This has never happened to us before but we have had 40 here for the last 4-5 days. We have two feeders and they are drinking about 3 cups per day. No fussing they just sit there and drink as long as they can. Every morning at day light there are more than the day before. I think it is a community r...

I had a set of 5 Fledglings that were able to all fly on August 5th. The male had abandoned the female, but there are plenty of bugs here and all the babies were fat & healthy. She continued to bring the babies back to the Gourd rack for 18 days. So the last night they came in was August 23rd. I thi...

We had a Merlin here last year. He was very fast and agile. It seemed he preferred smaller birds than Martins. He would zip across the back yard and you would see a puff of feathers appear in the air & another song bird bit the dust. The resident blue jays were not scared of the Merlin and would cha...

Most of the Martins here are gone an are rarely seen during the day.

Last 2 nights 4 Great Horned owls show up around midnight. I think it is a family group. They will wake you up from a sound sleep.

I know They will kill barred owls. Are they a very big threat to purple Martins?

Could also be some type of crane like Sandhill.

I saw a lot of them when I was working down there a couple of years ago.

He is the resident tough guy but worth his weight in gold when a Hawk shows up. If you have enough Martins he will usually concede and pick a different place to sit. We have a set of Fledglings that still return every night with Mom. The Kingbird will sit beside the fledglings and ignore them. He ch...

Are you sure it is an owl? feathers under the house sound more like a raccoon, do you have a good gaurd on your pole ?good luck. jim From my experience a raccoon will pull the wings off & drop them to the ground directly under the housing. Piles of feathers is usually an owl. I have Troyer Horizont...

The two thoughts that come to mind or predators. If you have a small number of Martins each and every lost Martin is really detrimental. That said when you have a lot of Martins each loss is less severe to the overall Colony. But the more Martins you have the more predators of all shapes& sizes will...

From what I have experienced when the temperature gets above 100 degrees you are goin to start seeing problems. Babies jumping and other dying in their houses.

I hold the chick, towell is your choise...expect poop...may have to gently pry open their mouth with a fingernail from the side, dip the cricket in water or gator aid and put the cricket straight in. It will clamp down on it, sometimes rejecting it. They dont like to cooperate at first, Just do it ...

I had a nest of 5 eggs that hatched after being in the nest for over 30 days. Don't know what to tell you there. When a nest with eggs is abandoned I think of Hawks or owls taking the adult female. If the male disappears the female will hatch the young and feed as many as she can if the bugs are ava...

All great suggestions. You want to purchase 5% Sevin Dust. Buy a new container each year, it loses its effectiveness with age. Yes, the mites will bite you. Think of 50 mosquitos biting you at the same time. I don't see how the adults live with them. A 1/4 of a teaspoon will reduce the number of mit...

Like everything else in life it depends on how much you want to spend. I have 3 Gemini Gourd racks with Troyer Horizontal Gourds. They come with 24 gourds and a 3" Aluminum pole. The pole is 16' tall when assembled. Wish I would have bought them 15 years ago. It is a two layer rack. My wife checks t...

If a raccoon is your predator (in my experience), he will cut off the wings and leave them laying on the ground near by.

You might think of adding a plastic board above the Gourd to reduce the direct sun. The type of campaign sign you see on street corners work really well. Just secure it with zip ties.

We live on a lake and the Poles for the Martins are 5' from the water. The adults always have the fledglings 1st flight over the water. Remarkably most of the time they fly perfect the 1st time. I have waded out in the lake and dipped up a couple with a dip net. A pool will not provide enough room f...

Yeah, 100% occupancy is tough. But you have a very nice setup. If you did add another house your pair numbers would probably increase.

Not having a lot of large trees for the Hawks to hide in is a big plus for your location.

So it's getting pretty warm here and late in the Martin Season. Probably 75% of our Martins have fledged with about 25% left to go. Let me say I really like the Troyer horizontal gourds. If you have mites they will be in the lid and the threads of the plastic Gourd when you unscrew the cap. A quarte...

I buy 100 crickets at a time. A place that sells bait for fishing is usually the cheapest route. Put them in a gallon zip lock bag with air inside and put them in the freezer. In 20 minutes they will be stunned. I Usually take out 8 or 10 on a saucer, they will be thawed out in a few minutes. Take a...