Here's my story

[ldskidmore]

Here's my story ( and I'm sticking to it). I put my gourd pole up 4/1/2013. Started playing the dawnsong and daytime chatter cd's. Saw my first sub adult 4/14/2013. Had a pair visit 4/26. Still having single visitors but no takers so far. I haven't had any trouble with starlings or HOSP so far (knock on wood), but do have a tree swallow nest in a gourd about 35' away from my pole and they harass any martin that comes by. The martins that do come by look in the gourds but I haven't seen any enter. I have crescent entrances on 4 supergourds. 2 natural gourds with round holes. I am new to the forum, but have been lurking for a while. there is lots on good advice and info and I have learned a lot.
Thanks to all who share their experiences.

[barry resvick]

Hi There!
This is my fourth season trying and as of last year i had my first nesting pair but the eggs were not viable but they came back to me this year and are nesting so it looks like i may be a landlord by summers end.I to have tree swallows,four nest boxes full and if too close they will chase the martins.They get along good with them as long as their space isn't invaded.Thirty five feet sounds very close to me.I think the closest iv heard of is around fifty to sixty feet apart.Our yard area is very large so i keep them well back from the Martins.Just make sure you have no trees with in fifty feet or so,as they will visit,but wonts stay.After the second year i ended up moving my setup and the very next year i had my first pair.

[chickadee]

hi I have tree swallows and a pair of blue birds. the boxes are ten foot in front of my martin houses and go 30 feet apart down the line from their. one tree swallow box and bluebird is right under my martin houses. I keep the holes on the gourds closed until the martins get here. then when they do things seem to fall into place and my ts do not bother the martins. you just do not want them to go inside the martin house ever. if they make a nest in the box you have for them you should be fine then. buy mine are all close even a house wren and all get along fine as long as they have their own house.

[~Ray~Gingerich]

If you are just starting out don't let the tree swallows nest, they will run off every martin coming in. The protocol does not work, been there, done that.

[Wetterdale]

Hi Idskidmore:

I had the same thing happen to me just today. Last year I had problems with TS in my martin rig so I learned all about putting up a box for them.

Well this year the TS returned and I had a box for them about 35' from the rig. But then another pair came and wanted the martin house too, so they have another box about 40' away in the other direction. Incidentally, I have a 3rd TS box in the field behind my yard that is 60' away. All three have nests, one has hatched and I think the other two are still sitting. I thought I was good.

Well today I had a single PM visitor and the TS were very nasty and ganged up on the PM and scared it away. Not sure what to do either. I thought if they had their own boxes at least 30' way they would cohabitate with the martins?

[Wetterdale]

Ray:

Please elaborate. To get them out of the martin house, I was advised to provide an alternate box. When you suggest not to let them nest, do you mean in the martin house or anywhere close to it?

[~Ray~Gingerich]

I closed off all openings on my house and removed the gourds then set up a gourd 50'or more from the racks, the tree swallows built a nest in that gourd. After they claimed and nested in the gourd I opened the martin racks and house, soon an SY male arrived and that's when the tree swallows went beserk, the martin didn't put up with that very long and left. No nesting martins that year.

[Wetterdale]

Ray:

My experience exactly. We have to get them out of the martin house and 50' away is too close for a box. So what is the solution?

[~Ray~Gingerich]

If you don't have martins and trying or just a one pair, all you can do is try to prevent any nesting at all, don't let them commit to a cavity and that can be difficult sometimes. After you have several pairs of martins they seem to keep the tree swallows in check and not such a problem, they will still show up but don't act as if they own the entire site.

[Dave Duit]

I had a tree swallow make a nest in a gourd when I first started out. I simply place tall shepard hooks about 20 feet apart from the martin gourds and then place that gourd on the first closest shepard hook. After a four days I move it further away until the tree swallow are far enough away from the martins. I replace a new gourd where the old tree swallow gourd used to be after the tree swallows are well away. Tree swallows are a catch 22. They are nice to have in the vicinity as long as they occupy their own nest away from your colony but close enough to be the guardians and let out the first warning signal that a hawk or owl is close by.

[ldskidmore]

Had another visitor today. Flying around looking in but not entering the gourds. I was really hoping to get at least 1 pair this year. I did a nest check on the TS and they have 2 babies that they are feeding. I don't know if that will keep them busy enough to leave the martins alone or if it will make them worse.

[Ed Pace]

Idskidmore,welcome to the form. If you want save a lot of time and aggrarvation you should do what Ray says. Don't allow any TS's at all until you have astablished your colony. Even at 50 or 100 yds away. When a new pm female checks out the area before excepting the site,she will fly into the TS's air space and will be attack and most likely leave and not look back. If the tree swallows have babies they will be twice as aggressive, If you still want to get some pm's this year you better not waste any more time. Good luck.

Ed

[Wetterdale]

Well it happened again this morning at 10 am.. Single martin visited. TS went crazy. She hit the highway. I am totally screwed this year.

[pmlover]

Ray is right
Keep the tree sparrows away they are very aggressive and will take over.
Also watch out for the bluebirds. Once you let them next in a gourd they will take over all the gourds and wipe out your colony.
I saw that happen to a good friend in Ga last year.
dick

[Annie G]

Try moving your tree swallow gourd like 10 feet farther away from your martin set up. Move it a little farther each day. If they have babies they will move with the gourd. Just a thought...Annie

[Mhoover]

I had the same problem with tree swallows. I took the gourd that they had a nest in and moved it to a shepherd's hook that was close to the rack. I moved the shepherd's hook about 10 feet a day and waited until the next day to move it again about the same amount. They followed the gourd each time that it was moved. It is now about 55 feet away from the nearest martin rack and I think that they are hatching eggs today.

[Wetterdale]

Well it boiled down to moving the martin house or moving the TSs. Moving the martin house, although a good idea, was just too much for me so this afternoon two TS boxes took a 15' move AWAY from the martin house. The TSs happily followed. I will repeat this daily and maybe it will help. Thanks all.

Idskidmore, are you going to make any changes?

[Matt F.]

Many of you may have already read this information.
I thought I'd post it again, just in case there are some that had not.
It's a great, Tree Swallow / Purple Martin protocol, put together by Dr. Dan Drew:
http://www.drugfreeworkplace.com/~Dan/T ... GENCY.html

[Wetterdale]

Thanks Matt for providing the link again. This whole thread was about the limitation of the protocol. Yes it will get the TS out of your martin house quite nicely. I followed it last year and this year and thought I had TS under control. But in some cases (like mine and the originator of the tread), the TS still dominate the air space and chase away visiting martins.

I took a week vacation off work just to observe the arrival of the SYs. What I observed shocked and disappointed me. I have now lost two years because of TS. Next year my goal will be to have a no TS zone.

[Bill Hyde]

Be patient, people! After experimenting on my own, I finally bit the bullet and decided to try the Dan Drew trihabitation method. And this was after several years of failure; but eventually we had a couple "Oh, so close!" seasons before finally having a single SY pair that succeeded in fledging two hatchlings.

Now, only two years later, we seem to have a thriving PM colony (See my Profile) as well as some happy bluebirds and tree swallows.

To each and all who still are wannabees, keep your spirits high. Your reward will make the effort worthwhile