Bigger the better. I bought the 3 inch pole and winch. If you can afford it buy it. I think it would survive most storms but I play it safe and lower all my houses 3 0r 4 feet before storms. I've had poles bent and don't want togo thru that again. I have 2 trio m12k houses on it. Martins seem to lik...

Steve, I put the bed and breakfast up in the spring when the martins start showing up, around the middle of march. I have eggshell, oyster shell, meal worms, and pine straw all in a 10x21 inch black seed tray with slots in the bottom for drainage. I microwave the chicken egg shells for around a minu...

I've been fighting owls for 6-7 years. They are trying to wipe me out. I hate owls. If you attract any, you are playing with fire. They will in time find the martins and kill them. It's very stressful.

Dave

I have some of this and was wondering if it is as durable as red cedar. I want to replace the rotting porches on my North Star that are plywood with this aromatic cedar. Anybody know?

Dave

Steve, I have motion detector lights on my poles. They did nothing to the barred owls but gave them more light to hunt.

Dave

I use 3/16 inch cable on my T-14 house which is over a hundred pounds. No problem at all.

Dave

I never saw my owls reach into the openings and grab birds. The seven or eight inches between the porches and wire was ok for that. My owls would hang on the wire flapping their wings and making a commotion causing martins to freak out and try to escape. That's when the owls would grab. My new cages...

I guess I'm going to try to make my cages larger around my houses. I'm hoping to have around 12inches of space between porch and fence. I'm thinking about using goat and sheep welded wire which is a 4x4 inch mesh to try and keep the weight to a minimum. I've only used 2x4 inch wire. Has anybody used...

Thankyou all for the feedback. All my seven houses have 2x4 inch wire that is about 4-7 inches away from the front of the porches except the T14. I wrapped the wire around the T14 owl guards so that is only a couple inches off the porches. I've seen owls fly head on and crash into the doors and grab...

Kyler, sorry to hear and see this. I've been thru bent trio poles in the past several times. I eventually bought new poles for my castle and minicastle and placed pipe or conduit inside them. They became pretty heavy duty. I did that six or seven years ago and haven't had any problems. But I still t...

Yes, they are barred owls, a male and a female. I have flood lights in my back yard that I turn on every night and I have motion detected lights on top of my poles. Never seen anything but owls. They attack between 9:30 pm to 5:00 am about every night. You are right Gray Fox, if they would just stay...

Dave, that's the post I built in 05 for my T14. Again, it's in the Troyer plan book. The secret in laminating is that the treated lumber that's being used is dry. Also use a good waterproof glue like Titebond III or Gorilla Glue. And use lots of it on all sides. I think I stored the wood in the gara...

It has been a long stressful seventeenth season, maybe my last. The barred owl predation has been bad. I've counted at least 25 piles of feathers below the colony. I wonder how many were defeathered somewhere else? I had caged everything up about nine years ago. It seemed to work well for awhile but...

I built the laminated post that was in the Troyer's T-14 plan booklet. That was in 05. Still in use today. Straight as an arrow.

Dave

Any info. on this? Where is it located this year?
Dave

Kyler, excluders from Nature House work well for me. They slide thru them nicely. Occasionally not often, would have to enlarge the excluder or a crescent for those birds that had odd growths 0n there bodies. One year a asy female had a large bump on her breast and was having a hard time going thru ...

I've been using the Nature House crescent and excluder doors for years and haven't had any trouble with starlings that I can remember. I have a castle and a minicastle and 2 M12K's, all using those two openings at the 1/2 inch above the porch level. I do use the 3/8 inch wing entrapment protectors o...

You can buy from PMCA Trio doors that are crescent or excluder openings. Replace the round openings for the crescent openings. No work involved.
Dave

Brent, I use heavy duty galvanized wire and install vertical on every perching station on top of each house. They are about 8-10 inches long and spread out across the perches to keep hawks and owls from landing. At least it's more difficult for a larger bird to land. The martins can still use the pe...

We should not forget wing entrapment on a inner hole like when somebody expands their house from 12 to 6 units by cutting a hole into the next compartment. My trio castle that I bought years ago came with inside holes that were 2 inch round. The house came with caps that could be placed into the hol...