Natureline Gourd Problem

[BIOteacher012]

Just a quick question here. I have lots of different kinds of gourds, but my Natureline gourd is puzzling to me. I have the crescent entrance that snaps into place with the porch on the front. Today, my ASY male went into the gourd with no problem, but had a hard time exiting the entrance since there is no porch on the inside. I have the gourd packed with pine needles, but he still kept slipping trying to get out. So, what should I do to make this gourd easier for exiting? If I add an inner porch, then it will be hard to reach the snap underneath the porch to remove the front entrance panel for nest checks. Thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[Peggy Riley]

Brian try a screwdriver underneath the hole on the outside. Just pry it and entrance should come off.

Also you can add traction tape to the inside of the gourd entrance and that should help.

[Don & Danielle]

When I had Naturelines, I glued (epoxied) pieces of wood about 1/8 inch under the bottom of the entrance. Kind of like a cling rod or abbreviated porch. The strip of wood was probably 1/2 inch square and as wide as the entrance. To my knowledge none of my PMs struggled to exit using this setup. Getting the entrance to come off was a bit of a pain - maybe the screwdriver trick mentioned above will help.

[Matt@atx]

A screw driver to remove the entrance plate from the outside is probably the best option if a exiting step of some kind is placed in the gourd. I struggled with nature line gourds for 3 years and even after we cut and inserted ports and port covers.
We took the removable entrances off and added SKS tunnel entrances with porches. This automatically provides and exit porch in the tunnel as well. I beleive the entrance was clinger style.
We eventually replaced all 16 of these problem gourds with Troyer H's and V's which solved those problems instantly.
It should be unlawfully for companies to sell gourds without port entrances and porches or gourds that snap together using screws.
We got suckered through cheaper prices not knowing any better at the time and it caused problems for effective care giving and extra work for me. Later we had to repurchase everything to get it right.
Im sorry if you may be experiencing some of these same issues from Nature Line, I know where you are coming from.

[gsimpson]

Brian,
I have a Natureline pole and gourds with the crescent entrances w/ porches too. As Matt said, I too purchased based on price and have replaced 6 of the 16 gourds with Troyers. We are at full capacity this year again and have had a few (3 or 4) birds (both male and female) struggle to enter and exit the gourds, but have had no fatalities the last few years...YET. We have a female ASY this year that sticks her head in and out of the entrance 6 or 7 times before finally squeezing in. She has no problem exiting. My opinion is that they learn how to go in and out. All this said, I am replacing the Naturelines a few at a time and also the pole. They do struggle sometimes, but all of ours have eventually figured it out.

[Scully]

For several years more than half of the gourds we used every year were the old-style, plain crescent Naturelines with no porch of any kind, inside or out (four of 'em in this pic, one painted yellow).



In fact, up until this year the old gourd rack of the four we have, and the one always occupied first by seemingly the oldest martins and producing the most young, was a telescoping Carrol pole bearing six Naturelines and two Big Bo's.

Over perhaps ten years of constant use the only problem we encountered was a single case of a late, splay-legged fledgling in a Natureline gourd with almost no nesting material.

I do agree that these gourds with the plain factory crescents are perhaps the hardest for martins to enter, OTOH they appear to be virtually starling-proof and martins DO use them, difficulty in coming and going notwithstanding.

Mike Scully

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

For years many people paid no attention to inside porches, or never noticed that the martins could not exit easily. ALL gourds should be built in such a manner that the martins can easily exit. Traction tape on plastic gourds should help, but it still is best to have the outside and inside the same.

I too noticed that some of our natural gourds were difficult for martins to exit. Some people think that since they use natural gourds, that you need not worry about them, they will be able to exit. But when tunnels are added at elevated heights, then it quickly becomes harder for a martin to exit a natural gourd.

I noticed that some natural gourds with tunnels and high entrances were not being used. I then started to put the tunnels closer to the floor of the gourds. That helped but still some gourds were not being used. I then added slotted ramps to the inside of the gourds, the ramps made it easy for the martins to use, they were wooden ramps with slots cut into the ramps. Immediately, the martins started to use such gourds (in fact, some were among the first chosen).

I can understand why martins may not accept new locations, the reason very well could be that the martins have a difficult time to exit, so they go to some other locations. It truly is a problem that people should be aware of when tunnels are used

This problem usually does not occur in houses because the entrance and exit are usually the same, plus the entrances usually are very near to the floor of the porches and the cavities. No problem with houses.

[Jack Petty-IL]

In addition to the natural gourds I started out with nature lines. I never bothered with their entrances as it was at a time when they let us order two backs instead of a front. I tunneled them and used my entrances. I will say though that there not as heavy as the supergourds or as strong thickness wise, but for tunneling them they were easier to work on the insides and adding access ports with the halves separated! And the ones I did I still use.

[Matt F.]

I remember Brad B. had done some awesome enhancements to some Naturelines, complete with tunnels.
In fact, I'm pretty sure he consulted with Natureline, and was key in the developement of the Natureline II models, with the inspection ports.
Hopefully he could post some photos of his custom Naturelines.

[Jack Petty-IL]

Matt, a bunch of us were doing tunnel conversions on the nature lines and I think it was Brad that started first on the nature lines by being able to order just the backs of the gourds! Brad had a fellow I bought through that allowed us to buy the natureline gourd backs at a good price back then. The only downfall was the access port had to be located in the back of the gourds due to the seams on the sides, some did try some access ports on the seam sides if I remember right but all mine I did on the backs. I had talked with plastic craft a few times about the tunnels and entrances on their new redesigned gourds but they would not sell us the backs any longer when the new models came out!

[Bill Hyde]

Hey, Brian,
Congratulations on the arrival of your first scout -- finally! When mine arrived in early April, I still hadn't put any gourds up -- so the sparrows and starlings might not know my colony site was there. Also, we still had snow on the ground and the ponds were ice covered. I've been watching the Scout Report for your name to appear. (But that is history now, right?)

Regarding the Natureline gourds, I have converted all mine to porched entrances (Conley-IIs and Clingers). I also bought blank snap-on entrances to cover the original ones and I put drawer knobs or screw eyes on the blank doors to facilitate pulling them off. I'm happy to report that all my modified Naturelines are occupied currently.

Have a fun PM season, Brian!

[Matt F.]

Matt, a bunch of us were doing tunnel conversions on the nature lines and I think it was Brad that started first on the nature lines by being able to order just the backs of the gourds! Brad had a fellow I bought through that allowed us to buy the natureline gourd backs at a good price back then. The only downfall was the access port had to be located in the back of the gourds due to the seams on the sides, some did try some access ports on the seam sides if I remember right but all mine I did on the backs. I had talked with plastic craft a few times about the tunnels and entrances on their new redesigned gourds but they would not sell us the backs any longer when the new models came out!

That's great intel Jack!
I apologize for not knowing that you were also involved in the great, modified Natureline setups.
That's also good to know you were also in talks with Natureline as well.
Great work!