Purple Martin House - Annual Maintenance & Cleaning

In this video, it's time to lower the Martin House to perform an annual cleaning and prepare the house for winter storage. This is a large 14-unit Martin Condo Style House that is Amish built. We added it into our yard earlier this year and hosted a flock of martins for the season. It's now mid August and the Martins have migrated back to South America.
We used a solution of Simple Green and water to perform the main cleaning and scrubbing of the house and then we wiped everything down with a strong bleach and water solution. Afterwards, we did a complete rinsing with clean water, followed by a final light spraying of half bleach and half water.
Once everything was clean, we left the house doors open with the nesting boxes removed for a couple days to allow time for everything to dry completely. Once dry, we replaced the boxes, closed everything up, and then placed a canvas cover onto the house to protect it from the elements over the long Ohio winter.
Here is our affiliate link for the Martin House Canvas Cover. If you purchase one of these via our link, we will receive a small commission from Amazon:
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Here is our affiliate link for a T14 Martin House with a poly roof:
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[@johnschulenberg1]

We do nest checks during the season. We also do nest replacements. Nest replacements are done when the babies are 9-10 days old. Replacements are removing the old nesting material and replacing it with new… for example natural wood chips. If the cavity is infested..wipe down with a damp rag. Then the chips. One year we didn’t do replacements and in a couple cavities the babies jumped out. We did replacements and they stayed until they fledged. 🤷‍♂️

[@offgridwanabe]

Nice. I had a small one years ago but could not keep the squirrels out of it.

[@kevinsnyder8448]

Nice the pollin durth just began.❤

[@AveRage_Joe]

Nice! Thanks for sharing!

[@pomicultorul]

Thank toy for your efforts!

[@karunald]

Wow! Super nice!

[@deso5626]

Just got me a t14. And pole system. Wish they had a video putting house on pole. Directions look confusing. Your house is beautiful and I’ll be taking care of mine like that Thanks for video 👌👍

[@jimginnyohio]

Thank you! Yes, I experienced a bit of a learning curve when putting it up for the first time too. Good luck with your installation!

[@deso5626]

@@jimginnyohio thank you 🙏🏻

[@user-bq9tw8lt5l]

Be nice if they had them where folks on fixed income could afford them,instead just rich folks

[@jimginnyohio]

@@user-bq9tw8lt5l LOL….We’re far from rich! Yes, they are expensive. We saved up for a while before getting one. Another option would be to build one. You can pick up a set of plans online.

[@markr9581]

Where did you purchase your aluminum pole and ground insert? Looks like a fun project.👍

[@jimginnyohio]

I purchased the pole mount kit at the same Amish store where I purchased the Martin house. Troyer’s in Albany, Ohio.

[@larrybray4045]

What size is the hole on the Martin house.

[@jimginnyohio]

3 inches wide and 13/16” tall.

[@buckdangt3343]

What are the dimensions of the compartments?

[@jimginnyohio]

They are 6.5” W x 6” H x 11” L

[@buckdangt3343]

thanks for your reply, appreciate it!

[@Carperama]

I built a bat house 2 years ago and have hundreds of them now but I don't think their eating the Leaf Footed Bugs since they are probably in branches at night. Do martins get inside the tree branches and chase down bugs or do they only catch bugs as they fly? I used a large piece of floor tile for my bat house top, cheap and will last forever. Thanks.

[@jimginnyohio]

We frequently see our martins in the tops of our trees chasing down bugs. I built a bat house where we used to live, but we never had any bats move into it. We haven’t put it up at our current house. Maybe it’s time to do so to see if we have better luck with it here. Take care!

[@Popop78]

@@jimginnyohio I've heard that bat houses need a few hours of direct sunlight in the morning to be habitable.

[@barabbasrosebud9282]

Bad birds? Blackbirds yous mean!

[@jimginnyohio]

English Sparrows and Starlings. They will take over the house and kill the Martins.

[@michaeltrivette1728]

This guy gets it.