anyone have bluebirds and martins??

Guest · Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:48 am

i have a pair of bluebirds in a house in my front yard-they should have their first babies this weekend-but i have a couple of martins that have just started staying at my martin house about 330 ft from bb. problem is the bluebirds are going in and out of martin gourd while they are gone!!!
help!!
peggy

Louise Chambers · Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:11 pm

It sounds like they are just nosey neighbors and should not be a problem. You are very blessed to have martins and bluebirds, it's a great combination. As soon as the bluebird eggs hatch they will be too busy feeding babies to cause the martins any problems.

If the bluebirds were not fixed on their own box already, we would have advised plugging the martin gourds temporarily. Most of the time bluebirds will have eggs/babies before martins do, and that helps.

enjoy your birds!

Louise

Guest · Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:28 pm

i know they are nosey-but it almost looked like the male bb was taking straw out of martin hosue---this male bb is not as good potential dad as years past-his poor female is in her nest all the time lately and he does not feed her much of the time... i hope he straightens up when his babies born!!! they have always liked to sit on the martin house anyway-and now that i have a couple of martins they still like to go sit there-but until today i never saw them going in and out of the only gourd-they were both in and out of it...of course martins were gone at the time. i do have a question though, when the martins have built a nest in a gourd-do they stay at gourd more often???
peggy

KellyG · Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:07 pm

I have a Bluebird house about 60 feet from my Martin house. The first 4 BB babies fledged Tuesday. They are gone for now, but I am sure the parents will return soo for another brood. I have never seen mine near the Martin house.

Al Denton · Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:26 pm

I have 2 nesting pair of Bluebirds...each about 100 ft, away from my martin housing. The Bluebirds sometimes use the martin setup as a watchtower and for perching, but haven't tried to use it for nesting....yet

Todd Wright · Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:52 pm

I had a couple of sparrows get near my BB box today and daddy BB whipped some sparrow butt. I then helped him a caught mom sparrow in a trap in my Blitz houses- daddy sparrow is on target for tommorrow.

Guest · Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:20 am

How far should you put a blue bird house away from your p.m. housing??

geezer · Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:01 am

My Bluebird House is about 30 feet away from my PM housing.

I have successfully raised Bluebirds the past 3 years, and this year, the first brood should be hatching before the end of the month.

The resident pair of bluebirds learn quickly. They stay away from the PM housing, They stay away from all my S&S traps and they know where my suet feeders are. They are a real joy.

To keep away the House Sparrows, I attach monofiliament line with lead sinkers hanging on the end all around the Bluebird house. So far the HS have stayed far away.

geezer

Guest · Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:59 am

I know this may cause comment, but I have a pair of bluebirds with eggs right beneath the martin housing. The bluebird house is actually attached to the pole. I will probaby change this after the season, but for now, both the bluebirds and the martins are sitting on eggs with not the least bit of attention to one another.

I am so happy to watch them both and feel lucky to get to witness this.

Guest · Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:27 pm

We have Bluebirds with 4 babies, less than 40 feet away from the Martin gourds. No problems here, BB & PM perching on gourd racks together. BB's have not been interested in the PM's housing. I have always put timothy hay in the gourds and nest boxes, if they don't like they take it out.

Guest · Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:55 pm

I have blue birds within 60 feet of my martin housing. In my area, the blue birds are always here, so they establish their territory first.

zoefluf · Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:57 pm

My mom put up a pole with 4 gourds last year, and a bluebird pair claimed a gourd and started a nest before the PMs came. Then mom got 2 pair of PMs that nested successfully last year right alongside the bluebirds.

Same thing is going on this year. The bluebirds were there before the PMs. Mom now has 3 pair of PMs and the bluebirds. The bluebirds tried to chase the PMs away but the PMs just ignored them and now the bluebirds actually perch next to the PMs sometimes.
Jeanne

Jim Koenig · Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:58 am

I have been trying to establish a PM colony for four years. Each year I have martins checking out my T-14 and Gourd rack. Every year there is always some impediment preventing success. Last year it was TS's. This year it was Bluebirds!

We have a Bluebird pair in a box 140 feet away from my martin houses. I would see martins flying around my house/gourds but they seemed afraid to land. I would see the same group of 4 return several times. They would circle and want to land but were afraid. When one finally did, the male Bluebird flew over and attacked him by landing on his back.

The Birdblue would only use the perches to hunt from but all Spring he would attack any martins he would see land. The TS's didn't bother him.

Julio · Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:11 am

BBs wont be a problem, as stated wish i had BB

Ron Shaffer · Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:55 pm

...my bluebirds have never been a problem for the martins, but the tree swallows would surely add them to a terrorist cell list...they keep evicting TS's and taking over their housing.

~Ray~Gingerich · Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:00 pm

My bluebirds have a nest 500 ft. away from my martin housing, they still sit on top of the houses and poles when searching for grubs or whatever they find in the grass. The martins don't seem to mind. I checked my bluebird house today and found 5 little nestlings.

Bill & Kelley Shields · Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:52 pm

We have at least 3 pair of BBs sharing our space with our martins this year

. They commonly use the perch pole with little harassment but if they stray too close to the rooftops or porches the martins put them in their place! We also had mockingbirds and cardinals nest and fledge in our landscaping again this year. Everyone who visits seems to find plenty of food and love although the HOSP and STRLGS find love via my 12 ga!
Don't know what to do though about the tree swallow who showed up yesterday and came back today... Never noticed one here before and he doesn't seem to want to leave. I hate to take "action" on him but he keeps sniffin around the houses much to the chagrin of my pets...
Anyway, my BBs and martins are good buds and play nice

bill

Update: 6/17/08
12 nests - 55 babies aged 2-7 days and 8 eggs

Louise Chambers · Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:26 pm

Bill,

I bet if you set up an extra gourd or nest box for the tree swallows, they might move in. They are pretty enjoyable birds, and since your martins are well-established, the swallows won't cause any problems. They will get along okay with the bluebirds too - just space the houses out a bit so everyone is happy. I had about 25 ft between BB and TS boxes at one place, and the martins about the same distance too.

Louise

KathyF · Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:42 am

TOMKAT3574 wrote:How far should you put a blue bird house away from your p.m. housing??

TOMKAT-
This was most helpful to me last year and it worked. I have BB's, PM's and Tree Swallows all nesting with babies within the prescribed distances in this article.

Recommended distances:
http://www.drugfreeworkplace.com/~Dan/T ... gency.html

Guest · Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:01 am

We've had martins and bluebirds for years, but this year the bb's actually nested in a gourd on the same rack as martins. We've always discouraged the bb's until the martins arrive, then the bb's move on to their houses (over 100' away). This year however the bb's moved to one of their houses and stayed a week or so then decided to come back to the gourds. The martins didn't care so they built and both the martins and the bb's are feeding babies on the same rack. Never seen it before but things happen.