Purple Martin Forum

Hello Whippy, We are on the north side of Canyon Lake, practically next door in Texas miles. :wink: The first year we had martins, I went out in a storm and lowered the rack. And yes, the martins did fly out. I didn't know what I was doing or if they would return. The winds were so strong and I was ...

Have not seen any scout reports for Blanco yet. Just wondering if anyone reading the Forum is a landlord in Blanco. We are 15 minutes south of Blanco on the north side of Canyon Lake. Our martins arrived February 28 last year and the first week of March in 2015, but none yet this year. Just wonderin...

Tony, we are north of you about 30 minutes on the north side of Canyon Lake, so if your martins have arrived ours should be coming along soon. They have never arrived prior to February 25, so maybe next Saturday. I got the gourds out of storage today, filled them with pine straw and then covered the...

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Thank you for the pics! I will check out Home Deep and also maybe our Lowes and Tractor Supply. I'll look for the 84 inch ones. I'm thinking some of these Texas snakes might be able to reach the bottom of those gourds so I need them as high as possible! 8) Our colony is "small but mighty" ...

Hi Carl, I've been thinking about adding some Excluder gourds on shepherd's hook also. I did some searching on line, but didn't find any hooks that I thought were tall enough and substantial enough. Where did you find yours, how tall are they, and did you provide them with any additional support? We...

Hey Anthony, You have such an old colony, so "they" should know "they" are supposed to be on time! You are right about the rain, altho the forecast changes every time I look at it. My friend Ed in NB posted his first sighting on 2/27, and the next day I had two circling our gourd...

Thanks all. I did get an email from PMCA with a link to replacement rope. Don't know how many pounds it's tested for. I simply "had" to get my gourds up yesterday, so went to TSply and bought some rope.

I use both pine needles and aspen chips. I line the cavity with the pine needles and then put a handfull of the chips on top. Finally I make a small depression/bowl in the middle. The cavities are pretty full at the beginning of the season, but by the time the martins have raised their brood, the ma...

Stephen, I have never logged into PMCA website with my iPhone 6, (screen a bit small for my liking) but I just tried the same procedure you wrote about with the same result (grey square) and no way to enter a scout report. Tried to minimize, turn the phone sideways, etc., but no success. Someone fro...

Sharon - Central TX wrote:Annie,
Yes it is solar powered. I cannot give specifics but will ask my husband who takes care of that stuff (lol). I'll email you later.

Thank you! Same at our house. I call him "tech support" LOL

Sharon, I would like to know specifics how you hot-wired your posts. I have same issue. Netting is good for capturing rat snakes, but no fun removing them. I put netting above and below the baffle and have to remove it every time to lower the rack=pain. We are going off-topic :| , so you can email m...

What is the best replacement rope to use? Nylon, poly, cotton? I've read braided polyester, but saw a couple of comments that it stretches quite a bit. We have a 12-pack Troyer Vertical Gourd system (about 2.5# x 12=30#) plus the weight of the racks, so I'm guessing 50# by the time nesting material,...

haha Sharon...I'm known for my eloquence...NOT! Seems I learn in bits and pieces over the past 5 years so just trying to help. Emil, I found this on the PMCA FAQ weblink:

Just curious, why do you want some cavities open and some closed? I have all of our gourds open. Emil, I think I've read on the Forum to open only a few before your martins actually arrive, as opening all gives the HOSP/Starlings/others an opportunity to cause trouble before your own martins return...

RR, I had to create a new login after the new website came up, I don't know why. But all is well now. I guess if you can get logged in without creating a new password, well then that's a Good Thing! :-) We lived near Forest Creek Golf Club and my neighbor had martins, but I didn't know about them ba...

RR Martins, were you able to change your p/w and submit a report? I see someone reported from Georgetown. We lived in RR for 6 yrs prior to moving south to Canyon Lake... I'm hoping ours are on the way. But my gourds are not up yet!

I, too, had a little trouble when the new site first came up. Is working fine now on both my desktop and my husband's iPad. Sometimes it seems like I have to click on a button a couple of times, and be patient. Once I logged out and started over. Yes, logins and passwords are a pain!! Banks, shoppin...

Hey, Annie-- You have your homes all set up? The last 3 years, I've seen them about Feb 11 (average), but they seem to just pass through. Getting close. Probably get homes out of the attic in the next week. Happy New Year! --- Ed, the gourds are stowed in the shed and will stay there til around Val...

Hi Jean, Congratulations on your first arrivals! I noticed you have Troyer horizontal gourds. Do you vent them? I live close to you in Rosenberg, Texas. I have 12 Troyer vertical gourds and added 12 horizontal this season and I am fretting over to vent or not to vent. Thanks and good luck this seas...