Put up a Martin House for Looks... it's covered in Birds! Now What?

[MJM]

Hi there everyone! I've always enjoyed seeing the older style martin houses (not a huge fan of the gourd-only style, but I understand why people have them) so I bought a real cheap house on craigslist and I bought a set of gourds at Tractor Supply to hang under the house to complete the "look". I put it up this Spring and really enjoyed the look it brought to the property.

Well, now it is full of birds!

It started with a little barn swallow in a gourd and I thought that was cute enough, but then it began battling other swallows and ultimately a pile of martins showed up and really put a damper on his little swallow life (they'd take turns forcing one another to the ground, which didn't seem very pleasant for either bird). Since the martins were not very willing to leave and just kept coming back every day (and more every day it appeared!), I went ahead and moved that one gourd into a nearby tree, and thankfully the swallow relocated and the fighting stopped.

So now I have all these martins all over my display house (I counted at least 12 they seem to like to come and go a lot). They also tend to hang out more in the morning, then they're gone most of the day, and then all over it again at night. I figured they were just hanging out to eat bugs around my 3-acre pond, but watching them the past few weeks- sure enough they go in the holes at night and stay there and now I see hay sticking out of the holes.

Don't get me wrong, I think having martins is neat and I can't say I am disappointed; but I am sure not set up nor prepared for martining. I see all the work and prep and expensive equipment and things here on the forum and I mean, this is just a house on a pole. I have no way to get up to the house, nor pull the house down. No way to do "nest checks" except maybe in the gourds on the bottom.

Mother nature is usually pretty good at working things out, and I'm not going to be able to really change anything now that they're all in there... so I'll just have to see what happens. But, given my situation... any guidance or feedback? Thank you in advance.

Here are some images of the house attached. I can try to get some more / other angles if you have any questions.

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MartinHouse2.JPG (66.91 KiB) Viewed 5333 times

[scottfreidhof]

MJM it is not too late to change your forum user name to something more appropriate like the "Reluctant Martin Landlord." I am so happy that the martins added function to the form. Good job on moving the tree swallow gourd away from the house. And thank you for increasing the Kentucky purple martin population!

[phldave]

MJM
Please do some serious planning on how to rig up a winch and cable system on your setup, so you can install it before they return next year. You don’t know how fortunate you are to have a colony right off the bat. Please take the appropriate steps to care for them next season. Yes there is some work involved, but I am sure you will discover it is truly a labor of love. Welcome to Martineering.
Dave

[MJM]

Hi Scott and Dave, thank you kindly for the replies. After you said how fortunate I was... I went and dug up some old forum posts and I see that some people who really want martins have a hard time getting them. I wish I could give them mine for all their trying and buy me some time to better prepare! I thought you have to play songs and things to make them come, I really didn't expect them to just show up one day, and definitely not this many of them.

Dave, I have a good ladder I can use if there is some kind of emergency or something specific I need to do to support the birds, and I'll get learned up this year too and do my best as a "Reluctant Landlord" next year. I of course have so many questions... but that's what the forum is for so I will read. As of right now, I can't even tell a young bird vs old bird vs male or female.

Also, the barn swallows are doing well, I think I hear babies chirping in there now. I read they're actually a problem... honestly once I moved them they have no interest in the main house. So maybe that will help someone else. Here's a picture of their relocated home:

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[jhcox]

Hey if you build it they will come ha ha. But seriously you can’t blame the birds it looks like you have the perfect site for Martins open fields and a 3 acre pond. That’s Purple Martin heaven and consider your self very luck I’ve heard on the forum of people trying diligently for 10 years to get Martins. Good luck and just sit back and enjoy them.

[C.C.Martins]

Well now enjoy! Congrats, and welcome. Thats a heath house, a royal pain to work with. Trust me, iv had one for years. Did all the necessary adjustments and martins love it but I still use the ladder every week. You may consider an upgrade next year, your mix of house and gourds is a good choice. Decisions, decisions!

Right off id suggest a predator gourd on what you have.

Welcome and hope to hear your success this season.
Tom

[avesrun]

MJM CONGRATS and good job putting a house up! Thinking the swallows nesting in the gourd likely are Tree Swallows as opposed to barn swallows. You'll definitely want to consider putting some sort of removable cylinder predator guard with cap about 5ft up on the pole. This can be done anytime and will prevent you from getting martins and possibly LOSING martins in one season. Looks like you have a nice open and somewhat rural setting which = possibility of both snakes and/or raccoons present both of which are maybe the worst enemies of martins and both which would have no problem scaling the pole. Take care and have a great remainder of season!
TimG

[flyin-lowe]

Congrats. This part of the country is littered with starlings. I am north of you in Indiana but I guess you have them too. If I were in your positions I would get some starling resistant entrances (SREH) and put over the round holes. I have never been around that particular house but I assume they only have 6 inch deep cavities. People used them that way for years, it's not ideal but they will work. If you could do it this year those to modification would be the first ones I made, adding SREH and larger compartments. If not that will give you something to do in the "off season."

[MJM]

Thank you CC, avesrun and flyin-lowe for the advice. I'm hearing loud and clear I need a predator guard and will invest in one of those because yes I have plenty of raccoons (although the dogs seem to keep them away from the house, but better safe than sorry). Not too many snakes.

As for the house... we do have starlings here but I've not seen anything take interest in this house since the tree swallow (I looked it up avesrun and 100% that's what it is). So I'll keep an eye out and hope nothing shows up.

As for the house itself... as mentioned I really just bought this thing for looks and would prefer not to invest in it if I actually turn into a martiner through natural selection... I honestly didn't really shore it up well and if you look in the pictures the darn 4th level wouldn't even go straight (which the martins don't seem to care about ha). I don't have an issue investing in better equipment this winter if these guys stay around- so this may be a bit more of an involved year for me.

Now that I have some birds, I've of course been reading and researching and looking around and there's a guy down the road who has like 3 or 4 of what I think you all refer to as T14s (that sounds like a terminator to me). But they're big square poles with tons of gourds on them. I think I'll just swing his house and see if he's missing some birds and ask for help lol.

[avesrun]

Awesome MGM you're in for a ride if you stick with it and I hope you do!; as plhdave mentioned it's a labor of love and involves the the bad such as cleaning out a full martin house post season. Keep that in mind as you ponder future expansion! Martin poo like you've never seen! But in the end the positives far outweigh the negatives! Trust me too,,,........The air rat starlings will find you. You'll also need to have at least one Bluebird house about 25-30 ft. from your martin pole for that tree swallow and plug your martin house entrances at the start of next season if possible until you see the tree swallows back and claiming the box. Sometimes the martins beat them back and it's not a problem but usually tree swallows are slightly earlier or arrive same timeframe. You'll need another box 25-30ft on the opposite side of martin pole for bluebird if you think they're around. Both tree swallow and bluebird are competitor and can be a pain for martins getting started unless provided with housing within those distances. They're great to have around though and I have all three plus barn swallow at my site. Oh, and I love the term "martiner" vs. "Martineer"!! So thanks for introducing me to that form of the fanatic hobby of managing martins!
TimG