Purple Marten Housing

SkyChaser

SkyChaser

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SkyChaser
The blood type thread got me thinking about our mosquito problem again. We're down in the swamp and our mosquitoes get so bad any time it rains (which is does about once a day...) that you literally can't spend more than five minutes outside without being eaten alive. I looked into purchasing a purple marten house to hopefully attract some birds to eat them, but they are so spendy. As I am slightly handy and have some meager experience in creating things out of wood, I thought I'd try a DIY project. I found this promising plan online, but was curious if anyone had done something similar or had tips about what types of wood or designs (or even flowers/plants!) worked best to attract purple martens and/or other mosquito-eating birds to their yard.
 
SkyChaser said:
The blood type thread got me thinking about our mosquito problem again. We're down in the swamp and our mosquitoes get so bad any time it rains (which is does about once a day...) that you literally can't spend more than five minutes outside without being eaten alive. I looked into purchasing a purple marten house to hopefully attract some birds to eat them, but they are so spendy. As I am slightly handy and have some meager experience in creating things out of wood, I thought I'd try a DIY project. I found this promising plan online, but was curious if anyone had done something similar or had tips about what types of wood or designs (or even flowers/plants!) worked best to attract purple martens and/or other mosquito-eating birds to their yard.
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My grandpa built ours out of redwood for my Dad. It was square with 3 layers about 24" square if I remembered right? I think everything outside was made out redwood back in those days? I remember we had swing set seats made out of it .
The 3 layers had latches so you could take it apart to clean it out each year. Maybe 9 compartments in each layer/level?

Oh man don't get me started on building one.
As I had homing pigeons when I was a kid and have been telling my wife that I would like to get back into them so I could take them in my plane somewhere. Then release them and see if I could beat them home.
My pigeon coup was not redwood, it was scrap pieces of any kind of wood I could find back those days.
Build one the birds are fun to watch.
 
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We have a great population of bats who patrol the yard each evening and probably all night. Very entertaining; we sit in the grass after dark and they flash past so close you can hear the air on their bodies/wings, sometimes a wingtip will touch you. Flashlights don't seem to bother them and you can get a great look at them this way.
However I'm not sure any bug-hunter is going to have enough of an effect that the mosquito population will go to the level you want.

No "N/A" in title? Oh, wait, this is a form of aviation; nvmnd lol
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
However I'm not sure any bug-hunter is going to have enough of an effect that the mosquito population will go to the level you want.
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I am guessing you're correct, but as the city does come by and spray about once every two weeks or so and there's not much we do about the standing water in the yard being renters... So far, no one seems to be much bothered by the fact that the front yard turns into a lake every time it rains. :sigh: I would welcome even a small decrease in the mosquito population, so hopefully having a birdhouse will help at least a little?
 
The martens will have only a small effect on the population during bad times, but they are great to watch.

When the swamp dries up some, they will make a larger difference.

My son's daughter built a bat house, and it became occupied more quickly than they expected. The night patrol helps.
 
SkyChaser said:
I am guessing you're correct, but as the city does come by and spray about once every two weeks or so and there's not much we do about the standing water in the yard being renters... So far, no one seems to be much bothered by the fact that the front yard turns into a lake every time it rains. :sigh: I would welcome even a small decrease in the mosquito population, so hopefully having a birdhouse will help at least a little?
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If you put one up now you won't get martins until next spring. Sooner you put it the better though. Just make sure other birds don't take up residence. If they do clean them out right away so the scouts don't see other birds.
 
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Let'sgoflying! said:
Very entertaining; we sit in the grass after dark and they flash past so close you can hear the air on their bodies/wings, sometimes a wingtip will touch you. Flashlights don't seem to bother them and you can get a great look at them this way.
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Toss chunks of granola into the air - it won't hit the ground.
 
SkyChaser said:
I am guessing you're correct, but as the city does come by and spray about once every two weeks or so and there's not much we do about the standing water in the yard being renters... So far, no one seems to be much bothered by the fact that the front yard turns into a lake every time it rains. :sigh: I would welcome even a small decrease in the mosquito population, so hopefully having a birdhouse will help at least a little?
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Mosquito bits

Treats standing water. Not a pesticide and is not harmful to other creatures. Kills mosquito larvae.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
These?
View attachment 132488
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Yeah!
(Those are the bigger, longer lasting variety)
Bits are small pellets that can be put into smaller areas with stagnant water. Think downspout extenders, flower pot trays, etc... bits last for about two weeks.
The Dunks are bigger and last longer and can be put into larger areas that have constant stagnant water.
I use them around my street to great effect. You can also keep a bucket of water that attracts the females to lay eggs into, pre-treated of course, and the resulting larvae will never get to adult stage.
 
Biggest thing for the Purple Martin houses is making sure it's easy to clean out each year. Some designs have a pivot on the pole to release and lower it down, others use a pulley system like raising a flag. As long as you can keep the other birds (usually Starlings) from making nests in early spring when the scouts are out, you generally have pretty good success. Usually if you can get them away from barns/houses a bit it works better. Use untreated wood as well, just paint it white. Usually it seems like 6-8 individual compartments is best.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Biggest thing for the Purple Martin houses is making sure it's easy to clean out each year. Some designs have a pivot on the pole to release and lower it down, others use a pulley system like raising a flag. As long as you can keep the other birds (usually Starlings) from making nests in early spring when the scouts are out, you generally have pretty good success. Usually if you can get them away from barns/houses a bit it works better. Use untreated wood as well, just paint it white. Usually it seems like 6-8 individual compartments is best.
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Ours was a pipe over a pipe. Dad and I had to lift that thing about 5' high to get it over and off the mounting pipe. It was top heavy and it was a crazy deal with a small step ladder. And the outside pole was a 21' piece 1- 1/4" black iron pipe that he got from work. Because that's how they got em was in 21' lengths. It was heavy...
 
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I have birdhouses up, various types. I agree, doubt purple martins would make a noticeable dent in the mosquito numbers.
In my hierarchy, blue birds are top, then tree swallows, chickadees and wrens. House type, hole size, and location is what one does to target. It’s best to use a metal pole so predators can’t climb, hanging works for a wren house.
I don’t have an open area big enough for purple martins, had all the others this year. Bats are cool too.
 
Baked Potato said:
resulting larvae will never get to adult stage.
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Does the active ingredient work on junior high school aged males, too? J/K!

Ok, more seriously: A few houses ago, I had a house that had several rain filled ponds. Puddles is more accurate. The Bacillus Thuringensis (spelling of this word could be wildly incorrect) active ingredient of the Mosquito Dunks is very effective. Don’t forget to re-Dunk your pond/puddle after a big rain.

Back in the day, you could legally accomplish the same result by pouring a half-cup of kerosene into the pond/puddle. It spread out until it was a few molecules thick and would also kill the larvae, as they didn’t have the buoyancy to get the air tube up through the Kero layer. Or so I am told. That house used well water, and I wasn’t about to pour hydrocarbons on the ground in the immediate vicinity of the well’s aquifer.

-Skip
 
Gary Ward said:
Ours was a pipe over a pipe. Dad and I had to lift that thing about 5' high to get it over and off the mounting pipe. It was top heavy and it was a crazy deal with a small step ladder. And the outside pole was a 21' piece 1- 1/4" black iron pipe that he got from work. Because that's how they got em was in 21' lengths. It was heavy...
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My great-grandfather had some "Martin Hotels" that were on a cantilever setup. There was a weight hanging to the side that you would attach before releasing the bottom "keeper pin". The whole thing would slowly tilt down to about a 90-degree angle on the ground with little assistance. If you forgot to put that weight on the short end before releasing the keeper pin, well, lots of debris to clean up lol.
MauleSkinner said:
I beg to differ…N/A is Not Applicable. ;)
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Naturally Aspirated
 
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