Directions For Building A Martin House
Note that the plan calls for nailing a 3/4-inch strip onto the boards which are the ends of the house. his makes the 11 1/2-inch board the full 12 1/4 inches necessary to make the rooms 6 x 6 inches. Any less space per room will discourage martins and encourage sparrows.
Watch where you place your nails, because you will need to saw the dados (grooves) and roof pitch after the strips are added. Because of its nail-holding ability, solid lumber rather than plywood works best for the ends. Hammer in l-inch brads on either side of the room dividers to hold them in place. Leave the brads extended 1/4 inch above and below the ceiling/floor panel. If you don’t have a table saw to make the dado cuts, you can nail two 1/2-23/4-inch strips of 1/4-inch plywood to the inside ends to form the grooves. In this plan, a l-inch space is allowed in the attic for insulation.
A l-inch Styrofoam panel provides optimum insulation, but a couple of sheets of newspaper sandwiched between sheets of corrugated cardboard works well, too. The vent holes in the ends can be 3/8-5/8 inch in diameter. Note that the front pieces are cut 1/4 inch short in height. This, too, allows for attic ventilation and makes it possible to remove these fronts to clean the boxes. Use a 3/8-inch dowel for the roof perch. You may shingle the roof, but this is not necessary. Paint the house white.
Do not stain or paint the house dark colors. Holes should be at least 2 inches in diameter; 2 1 /4 1/2 inches is recommended. Rectangular holes 2 x 3 inches (high) are also suitable.
Just follow these instructions for bird house patterns & you’ll have no trouble
Installation
Erect the house on a pole or pipe 12 to 18 feet high in an open area away from trees. This house is light enough to mount on telescoping poles which are commercially available. This allows cleaning. Have your martin house constructed by April 15 and preferably by March 25. Holes may be blocked with strips of wood in the fall and winter to keep out starlings and sparrows. Clean out old nests in September. You may want to locate it close by any style of unique bird feeders that you may have installed.
Biology
Martins usually lay four or five eggs. Incubation is about two weeks, and age to first flight is about four weeks. Martins build only one nest per year, but they may renest if the first attempt is an early failure. After flight, martins will return to the house for about two weeks to roost and perch. Martins feed on the wing and eat a variety of flying insects, including flies, beetles, moths and cicadas. They wont decimate bee hives. Scouts-mature males-may arrive in late March. After aggregating in large flocks in late summer, they depart for wintering grounds in South America during late August and early September.
Comment
Martins are sometimes difficult to attract, but it’s easier if you have some well constructed purple martin bird houses in place. Well-shaded lawns with big trees are poor habitats. It may take a year or two to attract martins to a new house; don’t get discouraged. If after two years you are still unsuccessful, try moving the house to a different location-sometimes 25 feet can make a difference. Don’t expect a nest in every room. Four nesting pairs in a 12-room house is good occupancy. Any additional rooms are used for roosting and for young, preflight birds. Also, sparrows will likely fill a few vacancies. Before the martins are nesting, leave the sparrow nests alone to avoid disturbing the martins.
Related Products:
Humming Bird Feeder, Ver 0.2Track Listing:
1 Tetsu* - * ~Remix 6:19
2 Tetsu* - @ 11:04
3 Tetsu*, Stephen* - ^ 2:16
4 Andrew* - % ~Remix 13:38
5 Stephen* - ~ 17:40
Orbiter Electronic Listening DeviceCapture the Sights and Sounds from 300 Feet Away! -- Extraordinarily powerful, the Orbiter Electronic Listening Device brings sounds and images ordina... Read More >
Panasonic Wireless Network Camera and Pet Cam (BL-C20A)Box Contents: Wireless/Wired Network Camera, bracket, power supply, mounting hardware, CD-ROM, software and instructions. There's a wise saying, "... Read More >
Zenith the Effortless Birdfeeder DeluxeThis freestanding bird feeder towers 80" high, but you won't need a ladder to fill it. Effort-Less Bird Feeder slides up and down the feeder pole, eli... Read More >
Nite Guard Solar NG-001 Predator Control Light, Single PackThe Nite Guard solar-powered night predator light is a maintenance-free unit that keeps nocturnal predators away from your birds, livestock and proper... Read More >
Read more:
Thanks for the great read. It was exactly what I was looking for.