Helpful aids-
There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that using the "Dawnsong" tape or CD along with a decoy or two greatly enhances your chances of getting Martins to come and stay at your Martin house.
Location-
Locate your Martin house no closer than 40' and not more than a 120' away from your home. Martins like people and this gives them security. Place the house so that Martins will be able to "swoop in" to land on the house, they're like miniature airplanes and a runway is good. The more runways they have the better. Consider a runway a direct flight path without trees, buildings or any other objects in the way.
House height-
The best height is somewhere between 15' and 20' in the air. Many houses are lower and much higher for various reasons, but both landlords and Martins seem to get along well with this height. Also, remember that you'll need to build or purchase a house that you can "raise and lower" to do nest checks on a regular basis. Can you imagine lowering/raising a house that's 50' in the air?
House details-
Do not hang guide wires on or from the house. Make sure the area around the pole that the house sits on is free from everything. Don't grow shrubs or bushes or put anything underneath that can hide a predator or assist one in climbing the pole. Use a predator guard to keep varmints from climbing the pole and attacking your martins. Once you have martins you would hate to see them all killed. The best color for a house is white and compartment size should be close to 6" high X 6" wide X 12" deep.
Provide extras-
You can help the Martins by offering mud and a choice of wheat straw, dried grasses or pine shavings for nest materials. Also, you can offer dried eggshells or oyster shells to help with dietary needs. Both can be placed near the house on a pole. An old garbage can lid placed on top of the pole worked well for me. If you use egg shells make sure you bake them at 250 degrees to kill salmonella bacteria. Wash the shells in a burlap bag and then dry, before baking.
Last but not least-
I have seen Martin houses 12' from a dwelling, sparrow infested with tall trees on three sides of the house and never cleaned out from year to year. The owners watched the returning Martins for decades and enjoyed them fully.
On the other hand, I have also seen landlords who do everything by the book and have had no success in getting any Martins to nest. They have chopped down trees and provided the best housing available and nothing worked. Every situation is different. Knowing this, please understand these are general guidelines and if the world were perfect, everyone would follow each suggestion and successfully attract Martins. Unfortunately, nothing is perfect and not all suggestions work in all areas of North America. The point is, do your best to meet these guidelines and if you can't, or have a problem, ask questions. A key to optimizing your success is to have fun experimenting and keeping an open mind to new ideas.
