Did I buy the wrong thing?

[TWilliam]

Here is a photo of the house that I have as my main unit, and here is a picture of one of the SREH plates I bought. I did not realize there was such a depth between the bottom of the entrance hole and the porch. Will this work, or do I need to get something else?

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[millerjr88]

That will work. All you need to do is trace the inside of the SREH exactly where you are holding it in the picture, then cut your existing wall just outside of the mark, mount the SREH back over the hole and you are done. The extra existing hole doesn't matter as long as it is covered by the SREH plate. If the wall of your house is thin enough to allow mounting screws to protrude through inside, I would use pop rivets instead of screws to mount the SREH to avoid martins getting injured by screw projecting inside. I have the same SREH plates on my T14 house and they work great as long as the bottom of SREH plate is no more than 1/4" or so off bottom of porch. If you get them to high starlings will manage to squeeze through them, you want it low enough they can't bend their legs far enough to get in. The martins will soon get used to them to where they will enter the SREH almost directly off the wing.

[WillyPete]

That will work. All you need to do is trace the inside of the SREH exactly where you are holding it in the picture, then cut your existing wall just outside of the mark, mount the SREH back over the hole and you are done. The extra existing hole doesn't matter as long as it is covered by the SREH plate. If the wall of your house is thin enough to allow mounting screws to protrude through inside, I would use pop rivets instead of screws to mount the SREH to avoid martins getting injured by screw projecting inside. I have the same SREH plates on my T14 house and they work great as long as the bottom of SREH plate is no more than 1/4" or so off bottom of porch. If you get them to high starlings will manage to squeeze through them, you want it low enough they can't bend their legs far enough to get in. The martins will soon get used to them to where they will enter the SREH almost directly off the wing.

Ok, if I understand correctly I need to cut the metal door of my house and THEN mount them? I’ve been trying to find a visual guide for this online and can’t. I also understand I need a special gun for using pop rivets. I was thinking of just duct taping them in place until I get a better idea…lol

[millerjr88]

Yes, you will need to cut the house. I would not trust duct tape to hold it on for the simple reason that you have a metal house. Filing/smoothing any jagged burs off the cut edge prior to mounting SREH and using rivets to hold the thin metal tightly against the SREH plate are almost a must in your situation to make sure martins will not injure themselves or get caught on the cut edges when exiting the hole. Pop rivet tools are pretty inexpensive and should be readily available at any hardware store or even amazon.

[MJM]

Have you confirmed you have Starling issues? I live in central KY and have only had 1 starling in my houses in 3 years and my FIL took care of him with birdshot. All of my holes are the traditional round and the martins love the nice big entrances. I also don't have hawks or owls that attack my birds, so there is that too. But if you don't have any Starlings... you're sure doing a lot of preventative work.

[TWilliam]

Have you confirmed you have Starling issues? I live in central KY and have only had 1 starling in my houses in 3 years and my FIL took care of him with birdshot. All of my holes are the traditional round and the martins love the nice big entrances. I also don't have hawks or owls that attack my birds, so there is that too. But if you don't have any Starlings... you're sure doing a lot of preventative work.

Every year since I started, I have had at least one pair of starlings and or sparrows actively making nests in my traditional house. I just thought it might be a good idea to find a way to keep them out for good. Of course, I scared them off whenever I can destroy their nests before they are complete, but they are persistent little buggers.

[flyin-lowe]

MJM, you must be one of the lucky ones. I'm only about 3 hours north of Lexington and it is not uncommon for me to have a couple hundred starlings hopping around my yard at any given time. In the fall there are thousands of them.

[MJM]

MJM, you must be one of the lucky ones. I'm only about 3 hours north of Lexington and it is not uncommon for me to have a couple hundred starlings hopping around my yard at any given time. In the fall there are thousands of them.

I'll take the luck!!! There's a ton of landlords around me and none of us have any issues... not sure what it is about our area but sounds like I should be very thankful!

[daveh]

I use the crescent and excluder doors from trio and they work great. I have four houses from trio and use them in all of them. Regular sized starlings can't get in. I've had maybe a couple small starlings get in in the last 10 years. But they don't last long with my 22 cal. pellet gun.

dave