Purple Martin Forum

I wonder, if I go from a 16 hole S&K to a home made T-16 and move my pole 50 feet, will that discourage my first ever PM(s) from last year? I guess I'll have to see because that's what I'm going to do.

the idea of the sand is to make the predator leave tracks of their visit. this will tell you that predators are around and either raiding the nests or just scouting.

thanks emil for your reply. also, I realized after I posted my question that there is another reason for the tunnels. they can be used to provide more distance between entrances and that discourages competition between birds.

is the purpose of the tunnel to extend the depth of the house to discourage predation? if so, is it still effective when the house is 12 inches deep?

thank you dale for the explanation. I understand now why you have the tunnels. I have your phone number and will call you. I'm taking my computer to the shop today. I had a new operating system installed and have bugs to work out.

what is the purpose of the tunnel and the curvature of the tunnel? in the pictures the tunnel appears to make the entrance from off the side of the house. why is that good? do the pm take to the tunnel well?

I still am unable to send email. I'm working on it.

now that your pm family is moving on maybe you'll have time to drop the tailgate and let um run.

dale d, I intend building a t14. can the flange that is exposed between the tunnel and the 45 degree fitting be removed or does it serve a purpose? what is the purpose of the tunnel?

A lot of thought went into your creation. Looks more complicated than can be appreciated in your pictures. Is this modification explained in more detail elsewhere? I'm planning my PM house now and want something special.

i want a few natural gourds for next year. i looked at ebay but nothing looked good. what do you suggest?

this is my first year as pm landlord. i found the first snake that tried to invade the colony but i didn't take the threat seriously enough. another snake did invade the nests and was living in the compartment. thankfully, the martins had pretty much left by then. it and any new colony will have a p...

i decided to take my only pm house down this morning. i knew a couple of sparrows were living in it and i was pretty sure the pm(s) were finished with it. my son helped lower the pole to the ground. i pulled one sparrow nest out and noticed it was heavy. i turned it over and saw what looked like two...

emil, i will build a smaller house. i like the gourds too but i think the store bought gourds are the way to go but i don't care to spend that much money. the natual gourds are ok but they do not provide the amenities of a manufactured gourd.

john, thanks for yor reply. i intend to build 32 unit house this off season and mount that in addition to the plastic one i now have up. it will use a winch and pully system. do you suppose, in a few years when the plastic house must be scrapped, i can put in its place a traditional house and not lo...

nicely relaxing.

i have a plastic 12 unit house. i stuck it on a 20 ft pole and have full occupancy. the problem is i can't lower it because it's fixed to the pole. i wonder if i fabricate a bale with pve pipe so that as i lower the pole, the house will pivot and swing to remain verticle as the pole is lowered. i th...

i'm new but i wonder if dave might help feed the babies by giving them a few mill worms or crickets each day?

beautiful, and you are well blessed.

hello to all of you. I put up one 12 unit kit house this year. my first effort. to my surprise i had 10 mated pairs. i did no nest checks and didn't keep any counts. at first i thought i had visitors and after a while i realized i had residents. i went through huricane author without a problem thoug...