Purple Martin Forum

One gourd left out of 72 this year. Never had 100%.

The avian species are generally very vulnerable to a lot of different diseases, which they can easily die from, in addition to getting injured, starve or freeze to death. Pneumonia is very common, as well as a few other respiratory issues. Ask me how I know. We have about 45 pet chickens, which are ...

Like Ed says, I am willing to bet they actually come in for the night. You're just calling it a day before they arrive. . Keep a close eye on them, and try keeping tree swallows, House Sparrows and Starlings (if any) away.

Don't give up. Keep up the good work.

Mitch Sorry I can't answer your question but it is good to hear from you and I am glad to see you finally have an established colony. I would expect your numbers to continue to grow, at least as much as you are willing to provide housing. SY's are really moving in right now. Last Friday I had 32 ne...

Great news. Grats on your awesome season. By the way, are you the one I talked to on the phone a good while back when you first started out? Seem to remember John as you first name. I might be mistaken.

Make it a habit to do a walk around under your rack every day, if you can, and spend some time close to them. It won't take too long for them to get use to you. Good time to look for signs, feathers, cracked eggs, lost babies. They really don't care if I, my dogs, tractor, lawn mower runs around the...

Great news Mark. Keep the nest checks going.

Great video. Now go look for banded martins at your setup. Wouldn’t that be cool...if you saw one....

Those of you who are like me - still waiting for your first martin(s) to arrive - how many times do you look out at your purple martin housing every day? I look at the housing, the electrical wires that they like to sit on, the skys.........I must look out at least 50 times a day. Maybe more. So Bi...

BillieJR wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 24, 2020 9:33 pm

Welcome, Gary!

I'm waiting for tenants, too......in Wisconsin. I hope we'll both be lucky this year. Good luck!

Billie,

What kind of housing are you using? How is the housing placed? How close to trees? Do you have means to play dawnsong?

Great news. Good luck on your 2020 season.

Gary,

Early on they can leave mid-morning, and stay gone almost all day on the wing, feeding, exploring, looking for other martins, or just having fun .

Great news, Gary. By the way, you're just a few miles from me. We live on 15 between Laurinburg and Bennettsville. Are you currently playing dawnsong at your setup? I've got a dawnsong player you can have and use if you're interested. Just keep in mind that at this stage, your two guys can stay gone...

Tor, Absolutely! If you keep 24 gourds on the Gemini, then I have had no issues with checking the nests. I did have 32 way back in 2011 and the gourds were a little close together and not as easy to access, but I was still able to check the nests. It depends on the type of gourds you are using, too...

"Steve to a red courtesy phone - Steve to a red courtesy phone" So I am getting a new 24-gourd rack for next season. Currently i only have Super-24 racks, but contemplating getting a Gemini-24 this time. Have never owned or operated a Gemini, but just by looking at it, it seems like it would be a li...

Thats great start-up numbers. Good Luck on your season.

36 degrees here in North-East SC earlier this morning. Warming up nicely. If its cold, the usually stay inside until the sun starts to shine on the racks.

They came about a week earlier this year here in north-eastern SC. Numbers are the same, about 70 pair.

Very nice setup. Good luck this season.

Good news, James. Hope you have a great season this year.