Purple Martin Forum

Thanks, Ray. I have taken screenshots of your photo's so my husband and I can refer to them next year when we install the cages. It looks like your birds had no problems negotiating the openings. I appreciate your ingenuity.

Cheryl

Ray, That is a great idea! It looks like it's made of plastic. What are the dimensions of the openings? Can you share what it's called and where you purchased it? I have plans to add cages to my Gemini and Super System racks this winter and I really like the light weight aspect of your idea. It woul...

Judy, Thanks for your response. I have similar protection on my houses and gourd racks and actually most hawk catches I observed were in the air or on power lines. I did see 2 fledglings caught that were perched on top of my Gemini rack. A wire cage would help only if they would perch inside or drop...

Judy, I'm glad you had a hawk free evening. Same thing at my colony last night. I am down to just 5 remaining nests and only have about 60 birds hanging around the colony in the mornings. I think they are sleeping in trees at night. You mentioned that some of your racks are caged or have wire protec...

Judy and others, I am sorry for your losses to hawks. I too have lost many many fledglings, as well as a few adult birds this season due to Cooper's hawk attacks. As soon as the fledging started there were multiple attacks on the colony every few hours. Most of the attacks were successful for the ha...

Steve, Thanks for the GHO decoy idea. I will be trying this in my colony. I have not had any owl predation so far, but my colony has grown to 82 pair this year so it's probably only a matter of time. I am using every deterrent idea from the forum short of enclosing my racks with wire. I just wish th...

Okie, I tried to send you a private message, but don't think it went through. I saw on another post that you would like to visit Stan's colony. You are welcome to visit our colony. My husband and I have an 80 plus pair colony about 3 miles south of Skiatook. We are retired and home most of the time....

Good morning,
I didn't get your email. Checked my junk email file and it wasn't there either. Thanks for your effort though. I have put your name and email in my contact list, so if you don't mind trying again, hopefully it will show up.
Cheryl S

Good morning,
I sent you an email yesterday. If you didn't get it, maybe it went to junk. Thanks.
Cheryl S

Thanks for your reply, Stan. I will see what I can find out online. Maybe it will be something the PMCA shop will carry in the future since they do carry Troyer products.

Stan, you mentioned that you have ordered the new Troyer caps with PVC vents. Are the PVC vents in the actual cap? If so, I couldn't find them in the shop. I have drilled holes in all of my gourds and added vents from the hardware store, but it would be nice to have them already installed in the cap...

Jose, I like your sintra fix. The Teflon slides on our Super System hub have deteriorated and there is a good bit of sway of the rack this year. My question is did you put the sintra slides on all four sides, or on just the one side you showed in the photo? I'm guessing we will have to remove the Te...

Congratulations, Stan. My eyes are on the sky, but I probably have several more weeks to wait. I'm ready in case they are early. Good luck in 2016.

I am having the same problem as Sharon on my iPad. When I click on Louisiana, I get Kansas, etc. I finally got the Louisiana results by clicking out in the Gulf of Mexico. Then I read this post and tried Louise's solution and it works fine. This is probably an iPad problem and doesn't happen on a PC...

Thank you for your reply, Steve. I have already softened my pine straw stock by driving back and forth over it many times in my SUV. No logging roads in my part of Oklahoma to gather pine straw. I have until at least mid-March to prepare my pre-nests so I want to try the mud/clay method on the nest ...

Steve, I have a couple of questions regarding pre-nests. I think I read on the forum somewhere that you use some mud to help form the pre-nests. If I am remembering right, do you still do this, do you do this in both nest boxes as well as gourds, and how much dry time is required? My pre-nests seem ...

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas to you and yours, too.

Some kind of swallow was flying just above tree level in my yard this afternoon, swooping for flying insects. Couldn't get a good look with the binoculars though. I figure they are heading south ahead of an expected cold front.

Thought I would see if I could post a photo -- something I have not tried before.

The same thing that Taxidery Lady mentions is also happening on my iPad. I thought it might just be because I use an iPad, rather than a PC. However, the close up look after clicking on View Item worked previously before the change.