New to forum - Hello :-)

[Guest]

Greetings!
Ive just joined and wanted to introduce myself My name is Leslie. I am a first year landlord with 1 pair which have babies. I am super excited since I did not expect this to happen so quickly. I don't know how many babies b/c I am afraid to lower the house and check.
I also have another pair that visits daily but they seem to just be day visitors.
I have learned a lot just reading as a guest for the past year. Thank you to all that make this very informative forum possible.

[digger55]

I just joined also, nice to meet you.

[Mike1624]

Welcome, Leslie and congratulations on getting birds your first year. I know that if you've been reading this forum for a while, that we have people that are doing everything correctly and have been waiting for years for their first pair. Enjoy your good fortune. The Purple Martin god has smiled on you:)

[Guest]

Nice to meet you as well. :-)

I am VERY blessed and almost feel guilty about the success. I said "almost". ;-)
We put the house up last year, that's when I started researching about PMs. We had a dew visitors but no tenants. This year hubby and I kept the HOSP nests cleared out almost daily along with a loaded bb gun to keep unwanted guests away. It didn't take long before a couple moved in. I have some photos I will post once I get to my laptop.

[Laverne]

Welcome Leslie and Pauly. I hope you both enjoy many years hosting the beautiful Purple Martin.

Leslie, I want to encourage you to lower that house and check those nests. I believe it is one of the most important things you can do to insure the success of your birds. Plus it is great fun and you will come to love the opportunity to do nestchecks. Read everything you can to educate yourself and this website is the best place to start.

For openers go to <Martin FAQ> button above: (and read #21) it's about nestchecks.

Good luck to you both, and enjoy your season...

[Mike in NC]

Welcome Leslie!

It's fantastic that you were able to get martins so fast. Enjoy your new addiction.... er, hobby

[Guest]

I WILL be doing a nest check. I need hubby to lower the house as it is not easy for me to do alone. Poor setup since we did it BEFORE knowing that PMs don't eat mosquitos LOL Hopefully later this afternoon while they are out. Will update on the number of babies.
I know there are babies now b/c I see them bringing food to them. I would guess they hatched about a week or so ago. I can hardly wait to peek.

[Guest]

Oh Mike, it is an addiction not a hobby. I am out there all the time watching. First thing I do every morning is go outside waiting for them to wake up. LOL

[Guest]

Here is a pic I took about a month ago.

[Guest]

This is "Mr. Martin" or as we affectionately call him "Pa".

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

You live in a martin rich area, so you should get many more martins every year. Glad that you have a pair this year, and good luck. Its nice to have newcomers join the forumsl

You may start considering some predator contol: traps, pole guard, wraping the housing with yard fence, mite control, etc...

[Guest]

Hi Emil,

I know my success is not due to me but rather location. There are martin colonies nearby as they come to feed behind my house daily. Of course I didnt know this until I started looking for them once we set up the house. We are planning to expand next year and will be setting up a better "security system" for our tenants.

[shiner]

Hi Leslie,
You are at the right place to learn about hosting martins. I was lucky enough to attract martins my first year, but once I attracted them I did not have a clue what to do. The people on this forum have educated me so much over the past 4 years. I currently have 9 compartments with 9 pair(I know I need to expand). Read about enlarged compartments and Starling resistant entrances.
Enjoy yourself and yes it is an addiction.........just ask my wife!!!!

[Guest]

Howdy Shiner!

I thought I would be more prepared for my first pair. I've been reading and thought well it could take a long time before I had any tenants. All I did last year was run to the door every time I heard them but nobody stayed.
Now I am planted in the backyard "protecting" the tenants.

Thanks too all who have welcomed me.

[rrmartins]

Welcome to the forum neighbor. Need to lower the house and learn how to do the nest checks, the martins won't mind at all. Follow Laverne's advice, you want to spot a problem before it happens or gets out of control. Let me know if you need some help.

[Guest]

I dis my first nest check as instructed. I got the house down alone but getting it back up required more muscle than I've got so I called my man to help. Turns out I don't have babies but 5 eggs so far. :-)
As for the birds not minding...ummm they seemed a bit upset. However they quickly returned to check on the eggs with only a few "stink eye" glares. ;-)

[Guest]

Please forgive my typos. I use my phone most of the time and forget to check my typing. I can spell I promise.

[rrmartins]

Yeah, they will talk to you, but they don't mind.

[shiner]

The more they see you they will know you are their friend. My housing is about 8' from my patio chairs and they have been so accustomed to me that I can climb a 8'foot ladder to put oyster shell and pine straw in the raised platform and they don't fly. I can shoot at a starling or sparrow and they just sit there saying "yep you missed that one" They definitely get to know who you are.

[Guest]

My fear was they may view mw as a predator since I have kept my distance since they started building a nest. Ive read the importance of nest checks and yet when it was my turn I hesitated.
My question now is how often? I'll go search the archives.