• Build martin houses with deeper compartments, like "6 x 12."*

• Provide for an interior baffle in larger compartments (an interior half wall).

• Provide for a 2-room suite in the confines of "6 x 12" compartments.

• Insert large cotter pins in the door springs on commercial houses with individual doors (Trio/Duracraft Brand houses.)

• Place small blocks of wood between doors and railings on houses with individual front entrance doors (Trio/Duracraft Houses).

• On Trio-Grandpa (TG-12), or Musselman (MK-12) houses, install owl guards by Nature House. (Nature House phone number  (212) 833-2323.)

• On PMC-24, or Trio-Castles (24 units), place plastic meshing around house (snow-type fencing) and cut out holes in areas in front of bird entrances for the birds to come and go.

• Build separate wire cloth cages around your martin houses.

• If sparrows and starlings are not a big problem in your areas, keep your gourds tightly wired with no swing. Large-cavity gourds with
  front to back swing can allow owls to dump and access the precious contents.Stationary gourds will not easily dump their contents.

In order to fledge as many martins as you can, you should do frequent nestchecks (until the oldest nestlings are 20 days of age). Many times, you can troubleshoot problems with the martins before they become major and cause colony abandonment. How would you know if something happened to your martins if you did not check them? Martins do not have a developed sense of smell that many people believe. Martins will not desert their house if you quickly check their nests. You are not a predator to the martins and will not harm them. You are merely a minor inconvenience when checking them. They will return!

If you can believe it, there is even a cutting edge in martin technology. There is a lot to know about martins and the martin interest. Today, we use artificial nests, porch dividers, starling-resistant entrances, a lure tape, state-of-the art martin housing and English House Sparrow and European Starling traps.

To facilitate nestreplacements for wet and damp nests, nests with parasites and avoiding chemical usage in the martin interest, many use artificial nests today. These are specially made nest platforms with nest cups honed by drill presses and hole saws. Some are made from heavy duty and dense Styrofoam insulation that is 2" thick. It is not common packaging Styrofoam that can be picked apart with your fingers. It comes in 4' x 8' lengths and cost approximately $15.

Some, including many of our martin friends in the Amish community, make artificial wooden nest inserts. These also have a nest cup area and easily slip in and out of their martin houses for nest checks and nestreplacements (ectoparasite control).

Martins take readily to them and the nests are dryer and warmer for the birds. With such nests, the martins bring less nesting materials to the nest, generally only bringing green leaves just before egglaying.

A few years back, a Purple Martin landlord from Moncton, New Brunswick in Canada developed special starling-resistance entrance holes. He used these new half-moon shaped holes on colonies in Florida and in his native Moncton-- always with success.

With enlarged compartments, 6"x 12", the starlings are attracted to such nice roomier compartments as are the martins. By adding a specially cut and installed wooden front inserts (on both metal and wood houses) with a new "half-moon" opening, correctly placed, today's martin landlord can eliminate most European Starlings from entering martin housing. The concept is that the starling is such a tall bird with its knees high on its leg that it cannot scrooch down low enough and limbo into the martin half moon holes.

I do not recommend placing these entrances on martin housing until you have a loyal colony of martins as the martin must learn to enter these new shaped, but tight, entrance holes. Once bonded to your house for a season, martins readily enter houses with starling-resistant holes the following season.

1. Draw a 3" diameter circle.

2. Measure down 1 3/16" from the top of circle and draw a horizontal line
   through circle. This is your template.

Very important! Place template ½" off the porch floor. Place new half-moon hole here. Properly constructed and installed, it is totally conceivable that starlings will not enter your martin house.       

As in many other interests, much new information and new techniques in the Purple Martin interest comes from average landlords like yourself. And just like there is always a newer mouse trap being built, a newer starling-resistant entrance was inevitable and is becoming more and more popular due to its height adjustment versatility.

The normal starling-resistant entrances are considered by many to be a tight fit for martins even though it is proven to prevent the entrance of most starlings. There are landlords who think martins must be first bonded to your colony site, that is, they have nested and bred at your site, before they will try proffered starling-resistant entrances. So, not to preclude young second year martins (SY birds) from taking up residency at new colony sites, adjustable starling-resistant entrances evolved.

In the early part of the martin season when starlings are a real problem, the doors are held to exactness to keep out the starlings. But, in many areas of the country, starlings finish their nesting and breeding season earlier than martins and are no longer a menace to martins and martin landlords. It is at this time that the landlords can elect to adjust the entrance hole, raising the height of the entrance to permit an easier entrance by the martins.

The adjustable entrances have slits on both sides of the insert which helps the wooden insert to slip up or down to change the height of the entrance. Two opposing screws can tighten the door for variable height adjustments.

Porch Dividers (PDs) are a privacy wall which is installed between each entrance compartment on a martin house. A martin house is typically filled at 50-65%. This is because adult male martins exhibit a behavior called Male Porch Domination where the adult males will defend units all along contiguous porches and not allow some compartments to be taken by other birds. Many times, the center units are not taken due to this adult male behavior. With the addition and installation of PDs, this behavior is squashed and the martin house residency can be increased to 75-100% instead of the typical 50-65% residency rate.

PDs also protect young nestlings from nestling wanderings in and out of other compartments along contiguous porches. Porches are man's idea, not the martins’ idea! In a typical colony of martins there can be three age groups of young martins: offspring of scouts; offspring of first arriving subadults; and offspring of later arriving subadults.
The offspring of the scouts develop first and roam the porch floors, going in and out of other compartments, some of these contain younger nestlings. The older birds commandeer incoming foods meant for the younger birds. Because of this the younger birds sometimes become weakened and die. For the older nestlings, sometimes, with contiguous porches which go all the way around the house, they cannot find their own compartments again, they become lost and disoriented, and many times, get knocked off the porches by the bachelor males that are not bonded with a female for the season. They do this to reduce increased numbers of young males, consequently, breeding competition at that site for the following season.

PDs are a very important addition to martin houses and can be purchased for Trio house manufactures or made from inexpensive aluminum flashing. They fit from the wall of the house to the railing and from porch floor to the ceiling. They are fastened to the railing and have all cut edges finely sanded for sharp edges so martins are not injured. You can even make your own from inexpensive aluminum flashing. Make sure all edges are sanded.

Use a roll of "6 x 10' aluminum flashing (any building supply store has it) and you will have enough to do several houses.)

  (Graphic to come. Stop back again!)

Dawnsong Tapes can be purchased from the PMCA. Call (814) 734-4420. $10.00 + S/H.

Gourds are new again and are very popular now in the martin interest. Today, we use 8-12 inch bottle gourds, easily grown in backyards with proper information. They are treated with either copper sulfate or commercial water sealer (Thompson’s Water Seal) to last longer. They are painted white to reflect heat. In the Purple Martin interest, we also cut 4" access holes in the rear with a special Rubbermaid jar or lightweight PVC access doors. In this way, we can easily nestcheck our martins in season and clean the nests out in the Fall. With these special access holes (not the birds usual entrance hole!), gourds are now more like bird houses.

The advantages of gourds is that they are not typically preferred by starlings and sparrows because they swing. Martins do not mind the gourd swing. They are roomier for the martins. The martins love them. They are more insulated due to the thick gourd skin. They are inexpensive to buy and can be easily grown. With proper care, the natural gourds will last a long time.

Martin gourds should be stationary to prevent owls from tipping them and dumping the eggs and/or young. However, if starlings are a real problem for you, provide that that the gourds only swing in one direction, from front to back or from side to side. They must never swing in a 360° circle.

The advantages of natural gourds is that they are not preferred by starlings and sparrows because they swing (martins do not mind the gourd swing), they are roomier for the martins, the martins love them, they are more insulated due to the thick gourd skin, they are inexpensive to buy and can be easily grown. With proper care, the natural gourds will last a long time