Purple Martin Forum

It sounds like the female is well on her way to taking care of the 3 chicks. Sort of keep an eye on her just in case something might happen to her.

I had a SY pair start nest building on July 8 last year. They stayed and fledged 4 healthy chicks on Aug 25 so it is possible.

Knowing where you are greatly increases your chances for attracting some martins next year as long as the housing is in a good location. You can learn what the martins think of your location if the migrating martins bring their fledglings in to have a look. Good luck next year.

It is primarily the house wrens that do the damage to BB and Tree Swallow nests. I have never had any problem with the Carolina wrens. I ended up placing a nest box for the house wrens over a hundred feet from my martin racks and facing away from the racks and that has stopped the house wrens from b...

What about moving it straight west closer to the creek? How far can you go in that direction?

I have had a SY pair start building a nest after the first of July so don't give up hope. It can still happen to you.

Keep removing the tree swallow nests so that they will be forced to accept the cavity that you have for them. Do not let them get attached to your PM housing.

It is normally the guys that are out searching for the gals. She probably has no idea on attracting a mate other than letting them know that she is there. Staying at your location is a good indication that she wants to nest there and there is still enough time for her to find a guy. Waiting for thin...

There is a good chance that someone nearby lost his martin housing due to the storms that visited Kentucky last week. Your martins may have come from a colony that lost housing.

Have you checked your cavities to see if you might have a paper wasp nest in one? I had something similar happen last year and found a wasp nest in one of my gourds. There were probably thirty wasps in the nest when I found it.

The S&K 2inch square pole is 11 gauge verses 16 gauge for the 1.9 inch round pole. The lower the gauge number the thick the steel so it appears that the 2 inch square pole should be stronger than the 1.9 inch round pole.

Even adult females will sometimes use just dried leaved to provide a floor in their nests. I had two do that last year.

Go ahead and hang them. Any additional attraction to a site is beneficial. It will also allow the fledglings from this year to get a look at what is available for next year at your place.

The chances having a nesting pair are very good if you have a SY-F committed to your site. She will be able to attract either a SY-M or an ASY-M since it appears that there are always more males than females among the martins.

You might try making things a little dirty as if some of the cavities had been used previously. A little mud spread around the entrance holes as if martins left it behind when they passed through the entrances could help. Taxidermy Lady used a fake nest in one of her cavities in order to make the vi...

That is normal. They are communal nesters and if a male is unable to attract a mate at a location then they will look for an existing colony where they will have a better chance of finding a mate. My first SY male stayed around for almost three weeks before he gave up and left. A SY pair has not est...

Leave it down a few feet to lessen the load on it this season and then after the season if over insert a 10 foot long chain link fence top rail down inside the pole to strengthen it for next year. I did that to both of my 1.9 inch S&K poles last fall after the season was over and it made a big diffe...

Are you using the S&K 1.9 inch round pole or the triangular aluminum pole?

JHCox There were no SREH entrances at the few colonies that I spotted in my area when I began trying to establish a colony. Every location that I was able to spot during multiple hours of driving on every road that I could find within a 10 mile radius only brought up five locations that had martins ...

It could be any time if there is more than just a nest bowl in the cavity. I have at last nest check 4 eggs in a gourd that does not have any green leaves in it. None of the nests last year had any green leaves in them either. They all had dried Oak leaves in them.