Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Purple Martins / Swallows bird house

I have tried for several years to attract purple martins to my pond. I have a 16 compartment house near my pond and have observed martins around it several times, but they have not established a colony. My biggest problem has been the tree swallows nesting in the house. The tree swallows are very territorial. Once one pair of tree swallows gets into the multi-compartment house, they will not allow other swallows or any martins to establish themselves in any of the other compartments in the house. I have numerous blue bird houses up around the farm and have noticed that the tree swallows will nest in those boxes. This year I set up a blue bird house about 30 yards from my martin house. The tree swallows have nested in the blue bird house. So far they have kept other tree swallows from nesting in the martin house. Last weekend we had a pair of martins looking over the martin house and it did not look like the tree swallows were going to chase them off. Have my fingers crossed that the martins will decide to stay.