top of cage

[brokensword]

Hello, new to being a PM landlord and am in the final design stage. I was wondering what the experts here thought of using a piece of cedar as a 'roof' over top my planned PM gourd system. Will the PMs still congregate if it's flat? I'm thinking of trying to thwart any hawk attacks. I plan on using a cage around the gourds to prevent porch attacks. I was also thinking of putting some vertical tines pointing skyward on the roof portion, to also dissuade aerial attacks. Some further info/discussion would be welcome as I finish up my design. As of now, I WAS going to use three sizes of emt pipe, reinforced inside with smaller diam emt (but wonder if the square, extruded tri tel pole of aluminum would be better?), gourds as houses, 4x4 wire cage surrounding the rack, and installing pvc elbows with threaded ends/caps for ventilation. Too, I'm getting some decoys, but wondered about placement; better AWAY from the colony like on nearby wires, fence lines, or ON the colony structure. Is it better to place decoys ON the structure (it would attract hawks, yes?) or away from the structure to discourage it as an easy target, but I don't know if the PMs would still be there anyway?. I'd love advice on any of the above. Thank you in advance.

[deancamp]

I will comment on the one topic of your question I have any experience with. I would place the decoy at your housing to attract Martins to your new housing. After you have attracted Martins, their activity and singing will draw attention way more than a decoy. If the decoy is near the housing and your Martins scatter from an attack the decoy is left sitting there and hopefully the hawk would be drawn towards it if only for a second to allow more escape time for the real birds. My 2 cents.

[brokensword]

I will comment on the one topic of your question I have any experience with. I would place the decoy at your housing to attract Martins to your new housing. After you have attracted Martins, their activity and singing will draw attention way more than a decoy. If the decoy is near the housing and your Martins scatter from an attack the decoy is left sitting there and hopefully the hawk would be drawn towards it if only for a second to allow more escape time for the real birds. My 2 cents.

Thanks, Jeff.

[Thomas Maddox]

I will comment on the one topic of your question I have any experience with. I would place the decoy at your housing to attract Martins to your new housing. After you have attracted Martins, their activity and singing will draw attention way more than a decoy. If the decoy is near the housing and your Martins scatter from an attack the decoy is left sitting there and hopefully the hawk would be drawn towards it if only for a second to allow more escape time for the real birds. My 2 cents.

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