Purple Martin Forum

My 2" x 20', 1/8" wall square tube (3' in the ground sleeve) has not yet showed any signs of distorting. I will lower half way if there is an extreme storm coming.

thanks any pictures would be helpful

Jeff

THANKS! I did not think of french cleat and the use of T nuts.

Harbor Freight has 2" hitch receiver tubes I was thinking of using as the slide mechanism over the 2" square pole, welding something on it to mount/dismount each of the four houses.

thanks to all for the ideas
Jeff

Hello all and Merry Christmas. I have one T-14 and a 16 gourd round rack and planning another T-14 build. I take it all down at the end of the season and put it all back up in late March. Does anyone have a good way of attaching each of the four housing compartments of the T-14 when attaching to the...

Hi, I had 68 babies and 23 eggs at my last nest check at the start of July. Of the 34 available cavities there were only 7 cavities with no signs of use. My question is... I should have at least 68 flying around now but can only count 30-40. It is hard to count when the are flying around. I did not ...

Thanks Tom, I appreciate your answer. I really do not know how to figure a final count. The best I can come up with is the last nest check done on June 25, 2021. Stopped nest checks as was afraid of the older chicks jumping out. 34 housing cavities available of which a total of 27 cavities had with ...

I have seen PM's in the morning and evening but they only fly around eating and I have not noticed them taking interest in the housing. I most likely will wait until mid sept. Do fledgings leave the nest for good before all the fledgings have learned to fly? I stopped nest checks when I thought the ...

Thanks Tom

Hello all,

When will I know when its time to take down the housing for the season?

Thanks for the info to base my decision. I have a total of 34 cavities with 22 nests that either have eggs or chicks. Some cavities have green leaves but no eggs or chicks as of now.

Jeff

Just curious about how many open compartments do you think is good this year, as to know when to add more housing for next year.

thanks jeff

yes, sorry I meant to write one half teaspoon

When and how often do you treat for mites with Sevin 5% dust?

I treated with 1/2 oz in each compartment in March before the PM's arrived as the white pine needles were added.

Was wondering if i should retreat as i do the nest checks.

Thanks

thanks for all the replies. My PM housings are too far for me to accurately shot sparrows with a .22. I did not know if shooting the sparrows while in flight from the housing would permanently scare off the PM's since this is a new housing site. I feel lucky to have gotten 3 pair this first year. I ...

Will shooting sparrows with a 12 ga shotgun scare off the PM's? My PM houses are too far away for me to hit the sparrows with a .22 rifle and I used compartment sparrow traps that worked one time and now they are too smart to enter.
thanks

flyin-lowe - how do you know when it is best to open the housing? I liked your answer to leave the PM closed-letting the TS get their nest started.
I have TS and sparrows checking my housing daily and have two blue bird houses hoping they will take to them.

I have a new site with a T14 and Troyer round rack with 16 gourds ane the Dawn Song playing. I have seen scout adult males once, four days ago and now again today. The housings are up and closed due to the TS looking for a home. My question is how will I know when to open? When I do open should I op...

Thanks for all the input, and after reading the suggestions the round 16 Troyer gourd will be 25' from the T-14. Just waiting for the concrete to set.

Thanks again Jeff

Thanks for all the responses. I do have room to go up to 80' away from the existing T-14 and stay within the parameters as stated by this site. I just did not know if both poles placed too far apart would keep them from one or the other, or if it made any difference if they were closer together. tha...

This is a new set up site to establish a PM colony. I just installed a T-14 with four hanging horizontal gourds. I also have a Troyer round rack with 16 gourds that I also want to put up. My question is how far apart should I place the Troyer gourd rack in relation to the T-14 ? Is there any advanta...