Photos Of My New 16 Room Trendsetter

[Steve Kroenke]

Photos Of My New 16 Room Trendsetter

Today I finally got my new 16 room Trendsetter on its pole and placed all the nest trays in the compartments. I also attached four six foot long painted white garden stakes to the house for extra perching. I do need to add a net trap for rat snakes and that will be done soon.

However, I will not be raising this house until the first week in April for the returning SY martins. I have done this before in the past and providing housing for the later arriving SY male martins can help to minimize infanticide behavior by these males as they look for territory and mates and reduce fighting between the SY males and ASY resident pairs.

This 16 room Trendsetter is the best looking one of the series in my opinion. I have three of the 12 room houses and the big 28 compartment system. The four tier configuration of the 16 room Trendsetter just looks better from a structural aesthetics perspective. It is surprisingly light weight and the two inch square aluminum pole seems to hold it well.

I purchased this Trendsetter and all my others through the PMCA and I would encourage other folks who are considering one of these outstanding martin houses to do the same.

And a short martin update…

More martins have arrived so far during March, but our numbers are WAY DOWN compared to what we had last year at this time. Even the nice recent “wave” of ASYs didn’t bring the number of martins in our two colonies anywhere near last year’s. All of our gourd racks/houses have many fewer martins and usually by mid-March many of our systems are at least half full. None of our systems have that number and most may be a quarter or less occupied. It is still early and perhaps a significant number of ASYs will arrive by the end of March and continue during early April. I know the horrible weather in late February and early March took a terrible toll of early arriving ASY martins in our area. But we even had fewer martins than normal during that time. So we will just have to wait and see what happens during the remainder of March and through April. I have been carefully studying both our colonies and trying to get a good grasp of what is happening from a martin numbers perspective.

Here are some photos of the 16 room Trendsetter.







Steve

[Vern1]

That's a beautiful house Steve.

One question: why round holes instead of SREH?
Don't know how good/bad starlings are in your area but still curious.
The starlings go crazy in round holes here and switching to SREH made management much easier.

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Joe,

We use only round holes in our two personal martin colonies. Very few starlings around here and I eliminate most by trapping prior to the martins' return and then shoot several more later on. So starlings are really not much of an issue for us.

We use srehs in our satellite martin colonies because these colonies are located in more starling rich urban/suburban areas and we can't monitor those site daily. The srehs keep most starlings out.

So we use both rounds and srehs and each has its place in purple martin colonies.

Yes, that Trendsetter is a beautiful house! The Trendsetter is my favorite commercial aluminum house.

Steve

[John Miller]

It's beautiful. I worry -- about many things -- and whether the 2 inch aluminum pole is adequate. I understand they use a steel pole for some of the largest Trendsetters.

I made a brace for one of my Trendsetters to maybe strengthen the pole at top of mounting post. May not be necessary...but it's from my worried mind. The four corners extend upward 3 feet, with a bracket at the top.

http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o50 ... 18444d.jpg

John

[Matt F.]

Great looking house Steve!
I really like the taller profile of the Trendsetter 16.
I noticed they're not using the grommets in the entrance holes any longer.

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey John,

I also worry some about the 2 inch square pole, but my other 12 room Trendsetter has done OK. I did cut a foot off the pole of my 16 room house to make the pole 13 feet tall. Every foot you lower a house/gourd rack the less stress on the pole just above the ground stake. I could have lowered the pole another foot since our location is so open.

Your modification to the pole looks real good and no doubt strengthens the pole where it most counts: just above the ground stake. I may try something like that.

My 28 compartment Trendsetter does use a 2 inch square steel pole. I created a round concrete "tube" about 2 feet high and 6 inches in diameter around the bottom of the pole to provide more stability. Maybe this helps some.

Steve

Hey Matt,

The nice Trendsetter folks made a slight modification for me on the 16 room house. I asked them if they could just use a "clean entrance" and eliminate the grommet since it tends to interfere with nest trays. The Trendsetter folks did it. I have talked with Mel from Trendsetter a number of times and he is such a friendly and helpful gentleman. I sure am glad the PMCA sells Trendsetters!

Steve

[Barrowdog]

Looks great
The round entrances are the way I will go if I get another one
Mel and I are keeping in touch about the SRES
We have ours attached to the pier as our all our housing
They have height off the water and get used to us . We keep this pier traffic free
I put a rack of Troyers at a neighbors 3 piers down
Most housing in our area was lost in Ivan years ago

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Barrowdog,

If you don't have starling issues or can control starlings, then there is nothing wrong with round holes. Martins have nested in round hole cavities for thousands of years and continue to do so all over North America. Bob and I have two thriving round hole martin colonies that are not being destroyed by starlings. Like I have said many times, I trap a few starlings before the martins arrive and this eliminate most of them. Then we may shoot several more later on. Not a big problem at all at this time. Every situation is different relative to starling competition and what is happening at one martin colony may or may not be happening somewhere else.

Mel is a fine fella and will work with you to resolve problems. Hopefully something can be done to greatly minimize entrapment issues with crescents in the Trendsetters.

Living near water is a great big PLUS for having martins! Martins love nesting near water and I have seen martin housing on docks. When I lived in the Tallahassee area, I often saw martin houses around nearby lakes like Lake Jackson and Lake Talquin.

Good luck in 2015.

Steve

[MingjoMartins]

Steve -

I am so excited to see this posted here - I have the original prototype of this house at my site!

I stumbled across Mel in my travels in Amish country, and asked if he would customize a purple martin house for me. I was super excited when he said yes, and the following year he asked if I would mind if he recreated the design as part of the Trendsetter offerings.

The end result now sits in my yard, and with the exception that I have crescent entrances is the exact replica of your photo!

I have to agree with you - super design and very appealling to the eye!

JohnM

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey John,

Thanks for your response and a little history on the 16 room Trendsetter. Well I am sure glad you talked with Mel and he customized a Trendsetter for you because that design is a masterpiece! It is my favorite Trendsetter!

I hope you have a great martin season in 2015!

Steve