Quick questions on Housing????

[Guest]

Hello!
Had a succesful year, only lost 1 baby.... 2 questions though - Everyone has left the house for a while now, usually never rest on the house, just nearby. We cleaned the house out and are wondering if we should plug the holes or leave it open (sparrows try to move in if left alone too long). As soon as we cleaned it out, they landed on it and are checking it out again.....
1. Is it normal for all to leave and not come back to the house after fledging?
2. Should we plug the holes now or leave it open?
We are sitting out back now and want to take care of this if anyone has any quick input.....
Thanks!

[klcretired]

mbyrd,
I would keep your houseing open until the big Migeration happens and for sure all the PM's are gone, your PM's will come back to your PM House from time to time and sometimes at nite to roost when you never suspect it or know it, so keep it open, secondly ,you need to control the sparrows by either shooting or trapping. I have a S&S repeating trap that i bought from The PMCA that i have had for a few year's now and it works excellent for the S&S's (Sparrow's & Starling's) and the Beauty is you keep it up all year long every year and keep traping even after the PM's are long gone.After the PM's have left for sure you can also buy Mousetraps @ Home depot and place them in the Entrances of your PM house to eliminate those trash beaks, if you do this for quite a while all the trash beaks will look elsewhere to nest and avoid your Houseing at all costs.I can personally testify to this as i have done it and it works and now The S&S's avoid my PM Houseing and Gourd Rack. Every once in a while i have a straggler to fly by & come investigate but they never stay. another thing is if you control all the Trash Beaks it gives your Martins a chance to occupy your houseing and once you have enough Martins ,they ,being in a larger number will also defend The PM house and run off any intruder's.
I hope this info helps you out and i know you may not want to hear what i'm saying but if you want to really Help the Martins it is necessary.

[Guest]

K.C. -

Will the trap you are talking about work on a Musselman (Trio)? I never heard of a repeating trap.


Deborah

[klcretired]

Deborah,
The S&S repeating trap is a seperate Birdhouse/Trap that you put up near or close to any trees or Buildings and the Martins won't even try to enter it, you can see the S&S repeating trap & info on the PMCA Traps site listed below, on your Musselman (Trio) house you can use a (sparrow door) made specifically for that House to trap sparrows, you should be able to search around on the PMCA on this page and scroll down to the sparrow trap door about half way down the page:
http://www.purplemartin.org/shop/Traps1.html
There is also a pIc of the S&S controler or repeating trap on that same page...i hope this info helps you,if you need more info or want me to email you a pic of my S&S setup just let me know.For a long time i had Pic's of all my Houseing,Gourd rack & Trap setup's Posted until the forum website went down and they lost alot of those posts.I'll be glad to help if you just let me know.