Purple Martin Forum

I think this is a pretty terrible article for the hobby, personally. I'm actually the "new guy" trying to get into the hobby- but it is filled with barriers to entry- which I think is what is killing it. My excitement and hope to be a martin hobbyist or keeper ("landlord" is not ...

PM Sent. I'm right around the corner!

Hi guys, if you are familiar with the Heath Houses and their circle holes- for Starling resitance would you add plate covers like these:
Or do you think the Heath houses holes are at least somewhat resistant and don't need plates at all?

Thank you in advance.

Thank you! I am actually going to postpone this project until next year because I had a local birder give me a 4-story aluminum house that is in great shape, along with a 14' pole (got lucky!) to get started. He suggested I give this free house a year and then expand because although there are tons ...

This photo of a T-14 with an offset winch/pole setup would work nicely for what you have in mind chicken man. The fixed spire at the top holds a pulley and is tapered to mate up with the sliding center section of the house. A seal would be a good idea where they butt up. The offset requires another...

I just noticed the top picture appears to be a tilting pole but it also has a winch mounted on it. Maybe it was built just to service the pulley's or something, but it appears as if that house raises and lowers as is....... This thread has a picture of one of my T 14 "carriers" in it. Als...

Chicken Man. Holy crap. Are you kidding me? My wife would divorce me but I'd do it any way. I'd get 4 to 5 24 gourd racks and place them in a semicircle on the outside of the fence in the back 15 feet apart about 10 feet outside the fence. Then I'd put two more in the inside of the fence 15 apart f...

Ok, sounds like I need to figure out how to build a pole... wasn't calculating that into my build originally.

Thank you guys for the input! I will get the special entrances for sure. On the pole- I'm relatively strong and I have plenty of help around the farm when I need to lean it over - and we have lots of wind - so I plan to make the double 2x4 or 4x4 post that will hinge at the base into two posts in co...

I have always thought those were interesting looking houses. I would never use the tilting pole like the first picture shows. No way to do nest checks etc. on a weekly bases. If you build that house I would come up with a way to have it slide up and down your pole. As far as your entrances go you w...

Hi guys! Now that I have determined the best place to put the house- I want to have a fun project building one! My intention is to build a wooden Double style house... which will be pretty large. Any help/input would be appreciated. I see so much talk about entrances, was just planning to do the goo...

Thank you all for your help. Based on the fact that we'd like to see the PM's (and I plan to build an awesome Taverner-style house for them as a winter project) I am going to go with the 230' location. It will be much closer to the house so we can see them and enjoy them- but still plenty of opennes...

Hi Chicken Man, Welcome to the world of purple martins. You will get many differing opinions as to the best location. The two locations nearest the pond are my vote. If I had to narrow it down to a single spot, I would go for the location just to the lower left of the 445" by the pond. Thank y...

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I tried getting into Martins about 10 years ago in NC (without much luck, but I didn't have a good setup there honestly and there were few known birds in my specific area). Now I am in KY just south of Lexington and there are Martin houses everywhere. Soooo, I figured it i...