What kind of traps do you have? Are you able to shoot?

Are you referring to this item? It is described as an interior baffle, I see no reference to wing entrapment. https://www.purplemartin.org/shop/produ ... est-trays/

I tried to google them to see what they looked like and came up with nothing. So, what do the look like and how are they placed? I had 4 entrapments in 2018, so decided to make some guards myself. I took a 3 inch thick walled abs pipe. cut a 3/4 inch slice off the pipe. Cut the ring in half, which g...

How many gourds will you be offering this year? I don't think replacing the house will be a problem as long as it is in the same location.

That sounds about right. The martins will do some scratching themselves as well. Besides being warm, the benefit of having a styrafoam nest bowl is to keep the eggs together. Some sub adults pairs don't make a good nest, and if you have a flat floor, the eggs roll all over the place, and then you ge...

The little ridges are not a problem. I see something else for you to consider. The nest you have made looks great but may be too deep. When the weather gets hot during the day, the nestlings move away from each other to stay cool. In the evening or night they move back together for warmth. If the ne...

Beautiful location, welcome to the forum Jeff. Things will pick up here as the season arrives.

Can you position the feeder close to your house. My feeder is 15' from my deck and only 4 feet high. I never see starlings on it, but the martins love it.

I rebuilt the entrances to my T-14 last winter where the openings face in different directions. The top on is straight out the front, the next one down out the side, the next one down out the other side and the last one at the bottom is out the front again. It made a huge difference. It is a lot of ...

Healthy martin chicks will actually weigh more than their parents prior to fledging. They need to lose weight before they fledge. Parents will stop feeding for this reason. You could weigh the chicks to see where they are at. Normal weight of parents is 50-60 grams.

As the martins age, they do tend to arrive earlier in the season. I would think a third year bird would likely show up in May at your location. Probably not early May, more like May 15th to the end of May. Hope he comes back for you.

What an inspiring post from 0 to 12 in one year. Congrats. I know we all have a lot to do in summer, but if you can find the time, I might suggest you take your sparrow catching prowess down to Golf Coarse and change the trajectory of that colony. A sign on that house, "looking for a Keeper" might d...

I agree with Brad. Eggshells came to mind. A lot of people will throw their eggshells on a compost pile, near there garden. The martins need calcium to produce their own egg shells and later on to give to the nestling for grit and calcium. I provide a low platform with eggshells and the martins visi...

Your description of your martin using the mirrors put a smile on my face. My founding female, yes I had a female before a male, also loved the mirror on my house and choose a hole where she could go out every morning and look at herself in the mirror. I still have the mirrors on my house 5 seasons l...

Sub adults will often build very poor nests. But 7 eggs for a sub-adult pair would be very unusual. They do like the styrafoam floors though. It looks like they have at least scratched out a nest bowl which may keep the eggs in place. In regards to your previous question about the blood on the egg, ...

The synthetic version of pyrethrine (permethrine)last much longer than the original. https://www.hunker.com/12224525/pyrethrin-vs-permethrin

Martins lay eggs in the mornings, so lunch time would be a good time.

Products containing permethrine or pyrethrine are very good to use against Buffalo Gnats. Spray your housing on the outside. I found a Raid product containing those active ingredients and have used them successfully in the past.

Don't know about the product you have but products containing permethrine or pyrethrine are very good to use against Buffalo Gnats. Spray your housing on the outside.

I always enjoy your posts FarmerHarv, you have a nice way of telling a story. I hate to say it but that looks like the work of a house sparrow. Did you reinstall the starling resistant entrances? Starling and sparrows will both do damage. The other possibility is the sub-adult males. They will somet...