Plans to Make to a Purple Martin House

The Inside of the House

• Purple martins like to live with other purple martins. Build the house big enough for several families to live in. Most purple martins mate for life. They find a place they like to live in and mate. They will migrate for a few months of the year, but they usually return to the same place. Make the birdhouse two to three levels high. Separate each level into four to six sections. This gives each couple their own space.

  Put hinges on the front of the house. The door allows you to easily open the house and clean while the birds are migrating.

  Use cedar or redwood when building a wooden purple martin house. Do not use pretreated lumber.

The Outside of the House

• You can use paint or scraps of vinyl siding for the outside of the house. Whichever you choose, use a light color. Lighter colors, such as white, cream or pastels, attract purple martins. Paint the trim a darker color if you desire.

  Make sure to drill small holes in the outside of the house for better ventilation.

Gourds

• Gourds also make good homes for purple martins. Drill a hole into the gourd and hollow it out. Allow the gourd to dry out completely. Do this with several gourds to allow for the socialization of the birds. Hang the gourds from a tall pole that has several arms. Hang 10 to 20 gourds on one pole.

Place the House

• Put the house on a pole in the most open spot in your yard. Purple martins like to be out in the open and like to be quite a distance from human homes. Try to place the birdhouse at least 30 ft. from human houses. Make sure there are no tall trees around the birdhouse. They like to be in the tallest place around.

  Make a pulley system to raise and lower the house. This makes it easy for you to get to the house and take care of it without having to get out a ladder each time.