Purple Martin

[Captain B.R.K]

I'm very interested in being a purple martin landlord. I'm not super handy with woodwork nor do I have the woodworking tools.

Does anyone know of someone that might have an old T-14 or NorthStar house (types of housing) laying around that is in good condition and not being used?

I know I will have a house on my property come Spring 2009. If it be I have to build one, have someone build me one or find a used one, I'm that enthusiastic about being a PM landlord!!

[glenn57]

hey captian, theres a guy in paynseville, across from the caseys station on hwy 23 that has them sitting there a lot. if your real interested i can find out from my mom where she got hers. i know a guy that use to build them but he passad a couple years ago. i have one also but my yard isnt open enough, nor does it have any wires for the martins to sit on so havent had much luck. one thing when you do put one up and have renters, DO NOT CLEAN OUT THERE NESTS.

[dragon master]

Check out the PMCA web site. You can look around on the web and find T-14 kits that are all ready cut and predrilled. Your going to have a hard time finding a used 14 or NS house, there so good that most of us landlords wouldn't give them up.

You could go with Gourds also, Martins love both the Plastic and Natural gourds. Being a landlord is a lot of work, you have nest checks every five days, starlings and sparrows can be a real pain in butt. You may have to replace the nests if the blow flys and chicken mites get to bad ( only if the young are less than 20 days old ). At the end of the season I clean out all the old nests, it's the only way to get rid of parasites.

I have one T-14 and two Super Systems 36 ( 12 plastic gourds, 64 natural gourds ) for a total of 90 compartments. I got my start from the PMCA. Just ask and they will send you a catalog with all kinds of info.