Housing at different heights?

[Birdiegirl]

Hi PM friends,
Kentucky is just seeing the first wave of martins arrive. Last year was my first successful year- three pairs nested, a storm hit and destroyed two nests, remaining pair fledged 5. We revamped our site for this year, adapting both the S&K barns to share a steel pole, and building a T-14 for another. Based on established landlords in my area, expecting scouts in the next 2-3 weeks.

We acquired two free steel poles- and I didn't notice it, but when we placed them in the ground

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, one is MUCH taller than the other. Is it a problem if we hoist the T-14 higher than the barns or should we only raise it to the same level? Ideally the birds will prefer our T-14 this year, and we'll replace the barn in 2023. In this photo the bottom of the barns is bout 15' from the ground and the bottom of the T-14 is even higher.

Would love your input. We're still making final tweaks to the housing (perch poles, etc.) and will add predator guards soon.

Thanks for the feedback

[Dave Reynolds]

... Birdiegirl .... I would leave them the way you have them in the photo... But ,, If you are really worried, then you can always lower the T-14 to be in line with the S&K Barns.. My thought is the Martins will always go for the taller house, being close together like the photo.. That’s just my opinion, hopefully other will chime in and try to answer your question ,,, Good Luck in 2022

Dave

[Jones4381]

I think they look really cool Birdie Girl...guessing the colony will love the uniqueness too and claim it as much theirs as ya'lls.

[TravisF]

Nice looking setup, Birdiegirl. I would agree with Dave. Conventional wisdom would say they would usually choose the house with higher elevation first, assuming they have equally clear flyways. I think you'll be fine. Even if they do choose the T-14 first, they'll spill over to the S&K barn as the other fills up.

It's hard to tell in the photo, but have you converted the S&K barn from a 12 unit to a 6 unit? If not, it's very easy to do. All you need is 6 door plugs and to remove some interior dividers and you're done. Makes for much roomier and safer nesting compartments. You can also add some S&K tunnels to the end walls of the barn. This really helps stop a single male from dominating one or both levels from a single side of the house.

[jhcox]

Mine are all at Varying height’s mine don’t seem to choose one over the other. Some of the rack are three levels and the bottom level may not even be 10 feet of the ground but they still use them. As for the S&K barn most people do convert from to 6 cavities and block the attic compartment do to over heating in the attic. I have had an S&K barn for 6 or 7 years first house I ever got my wife and kids got it for me one Christmas. I blocked the attic and converted the room into the 6 larger compartments. But with no takers I have had a well established colony for several year 45 pairs last year. But still no takers for the barn. Maybe this year. But I wouldn’t worry about the different heights.

[jhcox]

O ya I forgot to tell you the attic is a great place to put a Songbird Magnet or a speaker to play the Dawn song from it also makes the Martins think the house is already being used by a nesting pair. Good luck

[Birdiegirl]

Wow- thanks everyone for all the feedback! I think I'll keep the housing at different heights and see what happens. Both of the barns are converted to six larger compartments, with no apartments in the attic space. I don't have a songbird magnet- but that does sound like a good use of attic space. We'll employ the Dawn Song either with our CD player, or bluetooth speaker if we can figure it out! It was all subadults last season, hoping for some purple tenants this season.

Just got to practice lowering the houses ahead of some rough weather- tornado warnings currently in the Louisville area. Really liking the ease of this winch system! And sort of glad our birds aren't here yet.

I will be very interested to see how my little colony does this year. Hoping our one successful pair makes it back from Brazil- apartment #19 is waiting for them, or perhaps they'll try out a penthouse view in the new T-14.

Wishing you all the best of luck this season Thanks again for all the helpful and supportive replies.

[flyin-lowe]

My T 14's site a few feet higher than my gourd racks and it has never been an issue.
Have you actually measured the heights of them? It is always hard to tell from the picture but it looks as if there is a rise in the ground. They could both be about the same height from the ground, one is just taller being higher on the hill. The martins use the height to help them take off, especially fledglings. I'm guessing if you measure from the bottom of the house to the ground they are closer to being the same height about the ground than it looks.

[Martintown33]

Very nice setup! Your martins will love it! I have housing at different levels. In my experience the martins seem to prefer the higher housing first, but have no problems going in the lower levels as compartments fill up. They prefer to spread out a bit anyway, rather than crowd each other, until all compartments start to fill, then they take whatever is left.. your set up is great. They will love it.
Good luck,
Rob

[Kegger]

My guess is that any returning Martins will return to their last year spot 1st. I am sure though that they will
check out your T-14 cavities also, regardless of their height off the ground. Good luck!

[Birdiegirl]

TravisF- I realize that I failed to respond to your earlier suggestion. Last year there was indeed a fiesty male that defended his cavity- 'his' porch... 'his' entire side of the barn. I need to address that this year because I saw first hand how one bird an certainly run other birds off. My barn attics are closed, so I can't use a tunnel. I searched this forum and someone suggested using pool noodles to partition off sections of each porch (between open entrances). Since the entire panel has to lift up to see inside, barriers need to be removable- so pool noodles seem to be a great, inexpensive choice. We'll see if it works for us and I'll be sure to share our experience for others.

Flyin-lowe- you are absolutely correct that the ground slopes between the two poles. We have very little flat land here! The poles were slightly different lengths, but that slope sure amplified things. Oh well- it'll be fun to see what happens. I'd be okay with whatever housing they choose, but agree that if I were a martin I'd choose the higher spots first.

Thanks again for the feedback everyone! Hopefully our one successful pair returns and brings some of the floaters that hung out here last year. We'll be starting the Dawn Song soon. Good luck to all of you

[TravisF]

Birdiegirl, it can be done. You don't actually put the tunnels on the side panels that lift up. You'll need to put them on the ends of the barn (in other words the ends of the house that don't lift up with no holes). If you've already converted your house to 6 compartments instead of 12, then you currently should only have 3 holes on each side. With the tunnel conversion, You'll only have one hole open on each side with the lift up panels, and then have 2 tunnels on each end without the lift up panels. Here's how to do it. Lower your house, then stand looking at one of the ends without the lift up panels. I added one tunnel on the top level, right side. The other went on the bottom level, left side. This configuration with have one nest chamber going straight in, 12 inches deep. The other will have them going in, then making an immediate 90 degree turn to the 12 inch deep compartment. You then do the same thing on the opposite side of the house. The only original holes to be open will be the center holes. One side will be on the top level. the other side will be on the bottom level.

It sounds a bit more complitcated than it actually is. I think once you open the house up and see the current compartment configuration, you'll be able to visualize how things need to go. I did this modification last year, and I had full occupancy. It stopped single males from dominating multiple compartments. This S&K barn was my original house that started my colony, but I took it down this year and replaced it with a Lonestar Goliad house. I've also added tunnels to both of my Goliad houses because I could only get 50% occupancy. I added tunnels last year to my first one, and got 100% occupancy.
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I'll be heading out to the farm shortly. I'll try to take some pictures of the S&K barn with the modifications and see if I can get them posted here.

[TravisF]

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Here's a few pics. I tried loading a few pics with the panels lifted so you could see the inside, but they wouldn't attach for some reason. I hope this helps you visualize how it would look.

[Birdiegirl]

TravisF-

Thank you! I absolutely see what you mean now. You described everything so well and the photos made it crystal clear. My apartment configurations are as you describe in each barn- with four cavities turned and two straight through. I think I have some extra tunnels so I should be able to do this. May not need those pool noodles after all!
Looks like you have quite the colony- and a beautiful set up. Your birds have so many options to choose from! Looking forward to trying this modification- I appreciate your help.

[TravisF]

No problem at all. I'm glad to help!

I think the pool noodle idea might work as well if you don't have any extra tunnels. I had initially thought about dividing off the porch so they couldn't see the other holes, but I just liked the idea of the tunnels. I believe it gives them extra security from predators.

[Birdiegirl]

TravisF-

Thank you! I absolutely see what you mean now. You described everything so well and the photos made it crystal clear. My apartment configurations are as you describe in each barn- with four cavities turned and two straight through. I think I have some extra tunnels so I should be able to do this. May not need those pool noodles after all!
Looks like you have quite the colony- and a beautiful set up. Your birds have so many options to choose from! Looking forward to trying this modification- I appreciate your help.

[Birdiegirl]

Sorry for the duplicate post there- not sure why that happened!