First time landlord

[Tommy Coley]

Tommy, I see you are in North Carolina, but the map is not showing any SY birds that far North yet. As you know a SY or ASY is capable of starting a colony. I asked the question in a thread "SY or ASY", as to which people's colony was started by. The ASY crowd was 4 to 1over SY. The bottom line is, when the scouts start showing up in your area your housing should be up with dawn song blasting.

deancamp, thanks for the input on which birds start most colonies. This is my 2nd year trying to get a colony started.I had a lot of visitors last year. So I was hoping I might stand a little better chance this year. My friend a mile down the road has his Martins back this year he looked at my setup, and told it should work. So I’ll just play the Dawn Song and wait.

[deancamp]

Tommy, I think that's a definite plus and a very good sign you had that many visitors your first year. Stay the coarse.

[Tommy Coley]

Tommy, I think that's a definite plus and a very good sign you had that many visitors your first year. Stay the coarse.

dean amp,Hope you’re doing well, need to know what you think on a pair of ASY’s . They came Thursday around Lunchtime and were checking out the gourds. They picked one out and started staying all night. They leave in the morning & don’t come back until about dark.Is this normally what they do even if they are going to start a colony. Also the SY’s are not here yet but if the ASY ‘s stay will they try to get the SY ‘s to stay here.

[Whippy]

Tommy,

When I got my first pair they did the same. I made it a point to get home in time to see if they were coming back. Once they started nest building I saw them more during the day. My goal when I started was to have Martins hanging out on and around the gourds most of the day, fly around my airspace etc. First two years that didn't happen but I did have Martins.

This, my 5th year, I see Martins all day long. They are never far away. The morning social hour is real fun to watch. In addition, right now I have 3 or 4 pair in my gourds and many ASY males looking for mates so theres a lot of flying off and returning going on. Fun to watch.

Your pair may just convince others to come back while they are out.

Hope you have a great season. Looking good so far.

Coolwhips.

[deancamp]

That behavior would not be abnormal at all. If they are spending the night it is looking good for you. They will also bring back other Martins from time to time. You may only see the extra birds occasionally as they might not stay the night. Then eventually they might. If you have an ASY pair, I would say there is a pretty good chance they will draw in some SY birds when they return. The male ASY is a very strong recruiter.

[mjfog]

Hey Tommy - How's your season going? Hope those B09s I sent you are full of martins! My 3 racks in my colony are now up to 81 eggs.

Best wishes, Mike

[Tommy Coley]

Hey Tommy - How's your season going? Hope those B09s I sent you are full of martins! My 3 racks in my colony are now up to 81 eggs.

Best wishes, Mike

I am doing good Mike,thanks for checking. I only have 1 pair of ASY’s staying right now. They came April 2nd. Around lunch they leave every morning & come back about 7:30 pm and go in a gourd. They stay in a different one every night. I don’t know if they will stay or not, this happened to me last year. I hope they will & pick up some SY’ s when they get here.

[Tommy Coley]

Tommy,

When I got my first pair they did the same. I made it a point to get home in time to see if they were coming back. Once they started nest building I saw them more during the day. My goal when I started was to have Martins hanging out on and around the gourds most of the day, fly around my airspace etc. First two years that didn't happen but I did have Martins.

This, my 5th year, I see Martins all day long. They are never far away. The morning social hour is real fun to watch. In addition, right now I have 3 or 4 pair in my gourds and many ASY males looking for mates so theres a lot of flying off and returning going on. Fun to watch.

Your pair may just convince others to come back while they are out.

Hope you have a great season. Looking good so far.

Coolwhips.

Whippet, just wondering I have a pair of ASY’s staying all night in different gourds. They leave about mid morning every day & return around 7:00 pm . No nest building yet & sometimes another 1or2 come back with them but they don’t land on a house & don’t stay long. I’m in my 2nd year and just don’t know what is going on or if they are going to nest. Can you shine some light on this for me? Thanks Tommy.

[Tommy Coley]

Tommy,

When I got my first pair they did the same. I made it a point to get home in time to see if they were coming back. Once they started nest building I saw them more during the day. My goal when I started was to have Martins hanging out on and around the gourds most of the day, fly around my airspace etc. First two years that didn't happen but I did have Martins.

This, my 5th year, I see Martins all day long. They are never far away. The morning social hour is real fun to watch. In addition, right now I have 3 or 4 pair in my gourds and many ASY males looking for mates so theres a lot of flying off and returning going on. Fun to watch.

Your pair may just convince others to come back while they are out.

Hope you have a great season. Looking good so far.

Coolwhips.

Just wondering I have a pair of ASY’s staying all night in different gourds. They leave about mid morning every day & return around 7:00 pm . No nest building yet & sometimes another 1or2 ASY’s come back with them but they don’t land on a house & don’t stay long. I’m in my 2nd year and just don’t know what is going on or if they are going to nest. Can someone shine some light on this for me,they have been here for 6 days Thanks Tommy.

[Tommy Coley]

Tommy,

When I got my first pair they did the same. I made it a point to get home in time to see if they were coming back. Once they started nest building I saw them more during the day. My goal when I started was to have Martins hanging out on and around the gourds most of the day, fly around my airspace etc. First two years that didn't happen but I did have Martins.

This, my 5th year, I see Martins all day long. They are never far away. The morning social hour is real fun to watch. In addition, right now I have 3 or 4 pair in my gourds and many ASY males looking for mates so theres a lot of flying off and returning going on. Fun to watch.

Your pair may just convince others to come back while they are out.

Hope you have a great season.

[Whippy]

Tommy,

When you say a pair in different gourds is it:

1. An ASY male in one gourd and and ASY female in another or,
2. an ASY pair in one gourd and an ASY pair in another gourd or,
3. An ASY male in one gourd and an SY male in another?

If it's option one, chances are the ASY male will eventually give into the female and move into her gourd, pair up, and they'll start nest building. This happened my 2nd year when the ASY male who started my colony chose his gourd from the year before, but, the female he attracted chose the gourd right next to his gourd. It had a tunnel on it. He ended up moving in with her that year.

This is how I understand your current situation based on how I interpreted your post.


Coolwhips

[Tommy Coley]

Tommy,

When you say a pair in different gourds is it:

1. An ASY male in one gourd and and ASY female in another or,
2. an ASY pair in one gourd and an ASY pair in another gourd or,
3. An ASY male in one gourd and an SY male in another?

If it's option one, chances are the ASY male will eventually give into the female and move into her gourd, pair up, and they'll start nest building. This happened my 2nd year when the ASY male who started my colony chose his gourd from the year before, but, the female he attracted chose the gourd right next to his gourd. It had a tunnel on it. He ended up moving in with her that year.

This is how I understand your current situation based on how I interpreted your post.


Coolwhips

I have only 1pair of ASY ‘s they stay together in which ever gourd they choose for that night.

[Whippy]

I think you'll be ok. If they are staying each night chances are in your favor that they'll stay and nest.

Coolwhips

[Tommy Coley]

Hey Tommy - How's your season going? Hope those B09s I sent you are full of martins! My 3 racks in my colony are now up to 81 eggs.

Best wishes, Mike

Mike, I have 1 pair of ASY’s that are starting to nest build. I have right now 5 pairs of sy’s staying nightly. I’ll just wait and see what happens with them. Best wishes Tommy.

[flyin-lowe]

An ASY male is like an instant colony often times. As you have seen he will draw in others. My first year with a colony I had a lone ASY male return (he was SY the year before and never found a mate) and he attracted 4 additional SY pair. With the ASY pair and the extra SY's you have you are set for a good first season. Not sure how far into the SY migration you are but I won't be surprised if you don't pick up a few more.

[Tommy Coley]

An ASY male is like an instant colony often times. As you have seen he will draw in others. My first year with a colony I had a lone ASY male return (he was SY the year before and never found a mate) and he attracted 4 additional SY pair. With the ASY pair and the extra SY's you have you are set for a good first season. Not sure how far into the SY migration you are but I won't be surprised if you don't pick up a few more.

Flyin-Lowe,These SY’s have only been here a week. I guess there could be more coming threw. This being my 2nd year I don’t know when they stop coming through. I’m just happy having what I do. There’s more room if they do stop. Still trying to get use to them being so active in the morning & gone all evening.

[deancamp]

Hey Tommy, that's great news. Active in the morning and gone until evening is typical. They have to eat sometime and that's when it is. That is also when they will recruit more to your colony. Relax and enjoy the ride.

[flyin-lowe]

You'll notice too that as the season goes on they will spend more time around the housing, nest building etc. In the beginning it is nerve racking every time they leave for long periods of time that they have left for good. I remember my very first year that I was not satisfied until I saw my first ever martin egg in a nest. I finally convinced myself at that point that they might actually stay....

[Tommy Coley]

Can someone tell me how low you can lower your house in a thunderstorm, and the Martins still feel safe. The weather tomorrow could be rough with wind & chances for tornadoes in central North Carolina.I think my house & gourds will be fine if I lower it some. I have mine on a 3 inch steel pole.Any advice on this is greatly appreciated.Tommy.

[deancamp]

If you lower it 2 to 3 feet, they won't act like they even noticed. Leave it down until the threat of strong winds are over. If I lower mine down for a thunderstorm overnight, I don't raise it back up until the next afternoon when I come home from work, so I'm not interfering with ther social time.