Gourds for 2021 all set up

[Whippy]

Here are a couple photos of my gourds for this year. I had 15 pairs last year up from 4 pairs the year before that.

I converted my S&K 18 gourd fountain rack to a 24 gourd fountain rack. The gourds on the inner circle are new except for two of them. I added the others on the inside since the two on the inside last year were fought over pretty hard. I also added 6 Troyer Verticals for this year to go with the Troyer Horizontals. All of the gourds on the inside circle are S&K BO 11 Plus.

Coolwhips

[Dave Duit]

That is a good looking set up Whippy. Looks like you should have a good season for your martins. Well done.

[SSMartin]

Looking good. Are you planning to phase out the sk gourds? I replaced all the gourds at school site I manage. Put the bo 9 with tunnel. The gourds were 8.00 each and I had the tunnels. Hard to beat that when needing 30 at once.

[Stingray]

Here are a couple photos of my gourds for this year. I had 15 pairs last year up from 4 pairs the year before that.

I converted my S&K 18 gourd fountain rack to a 24 gourd fountain rack. The gourds on the inner circle are new except for two of them. I added the others on the inside since the two on the inside last year were fought over pretty hard. I also added 6 Troyer Verticals for this year to go with the Troyer Horizontals. All of the gourds on the inside circle are S&K BO 11 Plus.

Coolwhips

Very nice setup!
Thanks for sharing the pics.

Hope you have a great season.

[Whippy]

Looking good. Are you planning to phase out the sk gourds? I replaced all the gourds at school site I manage. Put the bo 9 with tunnel. The gourds were 8.00 each and I had the tunnels. Hard to beat that when needing 30 at once.

SS,

I like the Bo 11 Plus gourds. I usually have tenants in them every year. I started with the Big Bo gourds but haven't really had a lot of success with them even with tunnels but, my colony was started with one pair in them. I phased them out of my system here but plan to use them at my ranch as I begin to build a colony there this year. I believe they are good gourds I just didn't give them much of a chance as I like to try different things.

My decision to do what I have done is really based on personal preference and not what I believe a gourd can or can not accomplish. I'm also a little impatient and will try new things in order to get something started if I feel what is current is not working. However, I do know it's not the gourds rather, it's the slow build up of a colony coupled with my impatience.

Coolwhips

[Whippy]

That is a good looking set up Whippy. Looks like you should have a good season for your martins. Well done.

Thanks, Dave.

My Martins have always returned in Mid March as I watch the scout map populate all around me in February. However, having had 15 pairs last year, I am wondering if some of them will be arriving sooner than March to stake their claim. In addition to the 15 pairs, I had three gourds that had nests formed in them without the addition of materials on top of the landlord supplied pine needles. These were SY birds that never paired up so I'm not sure they'll be back or not. Will be interesting to see if I have any early arrivals prior to March.

I'll be putting up the T-14 this week as well. I am forced to put it in the position of my current Trio Wade since my wife kind of put the brakes on filling the yard with Martin houses. I would have loved to have them both in play but for now I'm going to go with more cavities thus replacing 6 with 14. As usual, I will post photos when I get the T-14 installed.

Coolwhips

[tor]

Very nice setup. Good luck this season.

[Dave Duit]

Hi again Whippy,
I have a strong feeling you will have a thriving colony in a few years. Best thing to do now is get your wife hooked more into the martin hobby, in the future we hope she will be as big of a fan of martins as you. Best of luck my friend.

[Whippy]

Hi again Whippy,
I have a strong feeling you will have a thriving colony in a few years. Best thing to do now is get your wife hooked more into the martin hobby, in the future we hope she will be as big of a fan of martins as you. Best of luck my friend.

Thanks, Dave.

My wife loves the Martins. She hates to see them go every year. I just have to be mindful or our yard and homes appearance in the neighborhood. Once I get the T14 up all will be fine. I think with those 14 cavities and the addition of 4 gourds hanging below that I should be good for awhile. That'll be a total of 42 cavities. I should be able to handle that if they ever get completely full.

Coolwhips

[Spiderman]

I like the rod extensions!!!

Something to keep the Owls and Cooper's Hawks out of their space and give them a chance to escape

March 15th is an Excellant time for your Martins to return. Mine will start to arrive on Valentine's Day each year. I had a group that would arrive earlier each year eventually they would get here at the end of January. We had an ice storm and they all froze in one Gourd. I feed them crickets but it just wasn't enough.

After that I didn't wish for early Martins anymore.

[Whippy]

I like the rod extensions!!!

Something to keep the Owls and Cooper's Hawks out of their space and give them a chance to escape

Spidey,

I noticed that last season. I had a hawk bust in and try to take a Martin off the porch of a gourd at roosting time. The hawk ran into the extension and couldn't get past it to get the Martin. He just fell back and left. I'm always looking for ways to add more extensions. As you can see in the pictures some of the new gourds, and the way I mounted them, don't allow for the extension. But I'll get it figured out. I like to have as much perching real estate as possible. Makes for a fun happy hour since there is less arguments on where to sit.

Coolwhips

[justplainpossum]

Hello! Last year I put up a twelve gourd rack which was working great until the mother barred owl found the perfect food source for her owlet. She landed on the gourds, put her talon in, and was moving it around. I ran off my porch swing, yelling at her, and she flew off holding one of my martins! It was a horrifying thing to watch. I was then told even if I brought it down and put "owl deterrent guards"on she would probably get past them. So I went on youtube, where someone had posted this predator guard he had built.

I called my neighbor/handyman/ and after looking at the model he went lickety split to the hardware store and put the metal fence wire shield around the gourds (it took less than an hour to build.) The martins were confused at first, but about a half an hour later the first martin got in!! I sat on my swing watching them all figuring out the guard. Eventually they all got it, and I was able to go back to my porch swing to enjoy the bumper crop of babies I got! The mama owl went to the woods and hunted for mice to feed her baby.

[Whippy]

That's good stuff Possum. I don't have an owl issue rather just the resident hawk. I got him pretty good last year with my decoy set up. Didn't lose a single Martin. It's a good feeling to control the predators and I'm glad you and your neighbor got that done.

Good luck to you this year. I'm looking forward to hearing of your success.

Coolwhips

[Dave Reynolds]

.... Whippy ... All looks well... Good Job... Have a great 2021 season....

Dave

[DBH]

Good looking site! Do you see a preference from the martins wether they like the round hole or crescent more? I’m planning on adding a few gourds under my house and I don’t have a starling problem at all so I was thinking about using round holes. The current house they would go under has crescent holes

[Whippy]

Good looking site! Do you see a preference from the martins wether they like the round hole or crescent more? I’m planning on adding a few gourds under my house and I don’t have a starling problem at all so I was thinking about using round holes. The current house they would go under has crescent holes

DBH,

No. I really don't. Last year there was an equal use of the holes round and crescent and Conley. I went with round holes because I know a lot of the Martin houses in this area use round holes so I figured the babies returning from those would be more likely to use them in my colony but I've not been able to test or prove that theory. It just sounded good when I thought of it. I, like you, do not have a starling problem and I haven't seen a sparrow in my yard since I moved in 11 years ago. Just lucky I guess.

[DBH]

Well that makes me feel better, I’m about to add 3 gourds under my existing house and am leaning towards round holes so I might just go with it

[Whippy]

As long as you don't have sparrows and starlings you should be ok. If they become a problem just change back.

I would like to hear how it turns out for you. I'll take an accurate count this year with regards to the type of holes being used.

Good luck to you.

Coolwhips