Hoping to be a new Landlord

[tor]

Alvie,

Looking at your property in Google Earth, it looks like you have a lot of trees around the house, which woild no be very conducive to attracting martins. Do you have a lot of trees around your house?

[alfie]

Hello thanks for your reply. I do have a few trees around my house BUT the Purple Martin houses are about 80' from my house and the closest trees to the Purple Martin houses are about 62' and further, the PMCA book I purchases states the houses should be a least 40' from the closest tree. The 62' is from the end of a tree branch not the tree trunk. I went and looked at Google Earth again and I can see that the 2" White PVC pipe is still in the map. That pipe is no longer there. Last summer I had to replace my Septic System because the current one was failing. So the person I hired to replace my system brought his Bulldozer in tore down a bunch of the trees to make room for the leach/drain fields. Most of the trees to the right of the white pipe you see are no longer there, in fact you can clearly see my fence line on that side line from my house now. Most of the trees on the left of the White PVC pipe are also not there. Most of the trees from the White PVC pipe to the road are also gone because he had to make enough room for the 18 Wheeler's to turn around and dump the gravel and rocks they were carrying. Also not shown on the map is the property to the right of mine, I own it also, have had it's property line cleared, I've been having problems with the neighbor's cows behind me getting in it so I had to finish putting a fence around the entire property to keep them out. The guy also had to clear a 20' path from the gate of the property next door to get to the location the leach/drain fields going to be placed to have a path the 18 Wheeler's had to travel to get to them. So to summarize I believe the location of my Purple Martin houses meets all the PMCA's recommendations. One person who responded to my posts stated that if a tree can fall and hit the house then it is too close. I also meet that statement. Now to discuss the houses themselves. I have the Dawnsong from PMCA and have been playing it eveyday. It was under my porch because it's been raining here and I didn't want to get it wet. Since we aren't suppose to get any rain for two weeks I put it under the Sunset Inn house which I also purchased from the PMCA and will be playing the Purple Martin sounds 24/7. I also have 3 decoys on the houses and one one the gourds and I spread a little bit of mud on the entrances which I'm going to have to redo because the rain washed a little of it away. It was also recommended to put a 1/4" wire mesh on the floor of the houses to keep the babies legs from getting deformed, which I did. I also put a little bit of pine straw in the houses to make it look like the houses have been lived in. I do have the SREH entrances which was also recommended. I also have the "Bed and Breakfast" system from PMCA which I put a little bit of oyster shells in it but don't really expect them to use it yet mostly because I don't have any Martins yet. We did see a bird on the perch above the houses a couple of weeks ago. So I went and got my binoculars so I can get a better look. I compare the bird to the book I have and believe it was a female Martin. She stayed a little while and left and haven't returned. I'm assuming she was just checking it out. So now I guess I just sit and wait. Is there anything else you can recommend I do? Thanks for your reply and any recommendations you have would be appreciated. alFie

[alfie]

Hello all - I had a male and female show up on Friday (4/23/21). They were on my apartment 3 of my Sunset Inn. They stayed there for a couple of hours then went to the perch. Stayed there for a couple of hours also. Unfortunately it started raining really hard, we received 3.79", and they stayed on the perch during the rain "shaking" off the water. When the rain let up they left and I didn't see them the rest of the day. I just assumed they were just visiting BUT the next day they were back again on apartment 3. They left, flew around, and came back. They stayed for about 3 hours then left. Later that day I saw 3 Martins flying around but never landed. Around 2 pm I saw a male Martin on the apartment 2 deck but no female but about 3 minutes later I did see a female but didn't see her fly in. I'm assuming she was inside apartment 2. So this makes me wonder if it was the same pair I saw on apartment 3 and decided to move upstairs or is it a different pair? If so since they came back does that mean they are staying? Hopefully if I see them today, still dark outside, it will mean they are going to stay. If they do stay I just hope another pair of Martins decide to join them.

[deancamp]

Sounds very promising. I see pairs moving around to different nest cavities before finally choosing one. Hard to say if it's the same pair but nonetheless you are getting some good activity.

[Archer]

I like what I am hearing Alfie. You never know for sure if they are staying until you see eggs, but some good signs are them staying for the night. When they start nest building that is another good step. Keep up the good works and the starling and sparrow out of your house. Some people might suggest turning off the Dawnsong, but I would suggest keep playing it until you see eggs. I attracted 6 pair the year I played the Dawnsong.

Allan

[alfie]

I AM A NEW LANDLORD, or do the eggs actually have to hatch to be considered a landlord? I was observing activity around my gourd #4 and apartment #3. After a few days I decided to see if the female is building a nest in one of those locations. I waited until I saw the Martins fly away to check it out. Not only was she building a nest in the gourd but there was 1 egg. As I was raising the Sunset Inn back up the Martins came back and started complaining. I finished raising it and walk away. I couldn't watch it all day to see if the Martins returne"d to the nest but I usually see the male sitting outside the gourd in the morning. I also noticed they don't usually sit on the perch on the Sunset Inn. They fly up to the top of a nearby tree. I do have one question now that I have to watch for parasites. The book I purchased from the PMCA states, on page 76, that to prevent parasites sprinkle "diatomaceous earth" in the nest or do nest replacements. Since there is an egg can I sprinkle Sevin Dust on it now or should I wait until they hatch? I've read many posts stating not to use the diatomaceous earth. Thanks for your help

[avesrun]

Congratulations! Hope the eggs make it to Prognes subis in the skies!

[deancamp]

Congratulations, that's a pretty sight. I would suggest sprinkling the sevin dust around the perimeter of the nest a couple days before eggs hatch. That will give you longer coverage after the babies have hatched.

[Archer]

The book I purchased from the PMCA states, on page 76, that to prevent parasites sprinkle "diatomaceous earth" in the nest or do nest replacements.

Congrats on being a Landlord. I am surprised what that book from Pmca tells you to do. I have read from the PMCA that they do not recommend diatomaceous earth as it causes damage the nestlings lung, as they do a lot of flapping in the nest before they fledge. The flapping whips up the dust and they inhale it. What year was that book published? might be old information. At this point you don't need to do anything. Just check the nest after the young have hatched and keep track of their condition. When you come arcoss a problem, is the right time to act.

[alfie]

Thanks for the info Archer. I couldn't find a published date just a 1997 Copyright date which would make it over 20 years old. I would hope that PMCA would have a more updated book then 1997. Hopefully it is updated just no publish date on it. I'll definitely keep a careful watch on the babies and change the nest and put some Sevin Dust down when I start to see parasites. I did see a post about not using diatomaceous earth and use Sevin Dust instead. I'm going to do another nest check on Sunday to see how many eggs there are. Thanks again for the info

[alfie]

Hi ya'll - I have bad news. I had 5 eggs in my gourd and they were to hatch on 5/24/21. I did a nest check on 5/18 and 5/22. Since they were supposed to hatch on 5/24 I was going to give them a few days before I checked. I checked on 5/28 and they were all GONE!!! No babies, no eggs. I have a Snake/Raccoon guard set about 6 1/2 feet above the ground. The nest didn't look like it was disturbed. I would assume is a snake or raccoon got in the nest would have been disturbed. I carefully looked under all the leaves and under some nesting material and didn't see anything. I also checked the ground around the pole and all I found was 1 egg (unhatched and not broken). I put the egg back into the nest and noticed a "rotten egg" smell. I'm wondering if the eggs weren't fertile so they didn't hatch and the female pushed the eggs out of the nest (I've read they'd push unhatched eggs and dead babies out of the nest) The gourd has the hawk guards on them and I've been watching for House sparrows (I put about 11 of then to sleep). Still if anything go into the gourd I would assume the nest would have been disturbed. The female was a ASY so I'm wondering if she wasn't fertile (long shot). Is it possible she'll try and lay more eggs? Thanks for any suggestions or answers ya'll might have. I'm really disappointed as I wanted to have the pleasure of watching they young ones, Thanks

[Jones4381]

That sux! Hang in there.

[deancamp]

Hate to hear of your bad luck and sounds like you were doing things the right way with the predator guard. How long and big around is the guard? My first thought was snake as I don't think it would show signs of disturbing the nest but with a snake I don't think you would find an egg on the ground. I would be suprised if they are aware of a predator they would renest.Hopefully others with more experience with possible predators and birds renesting will chime in. Is the pair still hanging around?

[alfie]

Yes they are still around. I see them flying around but not go into the gourd. But in all honesty I haven't really watched them to see where they land but I also can hear them. The snake guard is 8" x 24" and the top of it is 6 1/2' off the ground. I'm probably going to add a 6" PVC pipe when they leave. They come in 10' sections so I've got plenty of options as to how big to make it. I also have the SREH entrances but haven't seen any of them around. I haven't really seen any snakes around also. I walk around my property every day, been clearing trees lately, and I keep my yard mowed. I've read if you keep your yard mowed snakes don't like it and will go elsewhere. I also have 2 big dogs who patrol the yard and they have alerted my of other animals in the yard (mostly deer). Even if they don't renest hopefully they'll come back next year as these are my only pair. I did notice, when I started checking when they first arrived, about 3 gourds had nests in them but I guess they settled on my gourd #2. Thanks for the reply.