"Just wanted to let you know that the Purple Martins are off to a good start at our residence for 1999. We have 6 metal houses, 16 plastic Carroll gourds, and 12 plastic SuperGourds. As of May 31, we have 151 eggs and 31 new babies. All the SuperGourds (new this year) are full with eggs or new babies. The Carroll gourds #1 through #8 we cannot reach to do nest checks on. We might replace them next year with all SuperGourds." Jay & Lana Pittenger, Sharpsburg, MD. "I put up 12 SuperGourds this year and had real good luck. I also had a 12-room metal house. I lost a lot of babies from the house. I don't think I lost any from the gourds. The metal house got too hot and the babies left the nests too early. I'm doing away with the house next year and putting up 12 more SuperGourds." Richard Tres, Hopewell, VA. "I purchased 4 SuperGourds to hang beneath my Trio M12-K aluminum martin houses. The gourds are now 100% occupied. Next year I'm going to incorporate several more. I particularly like the durability of the SuperGourd. Last year we had a horrific rain storm that leveled the Trio house with gourds. The aluminum house did not fair that well, but the SuperGourds were up and back in action that same day. I really do support that product." Greg T. Hall, Princeton, TX. "Received my SuperGourds today and I must say they are much sturdier than I expected." Jace Stansbury, Nederland, TX. "I knew the SuperGourds were going to be good, but yesterday when I was doing a nest check I found out really how great they are. One of the gourds was infested with nest mites, the outside of the gourd being covered. I removed the 5 nestlings and placed them in a bucket upon a soft towel and then just took the gourd from the rack. I removed the old infested nest and sprayed the gourd with a water hose rinsing it completely out. I then took a towel, dried it off, inside and out, added fresh nesting material, then replaced the nestlings. I did all of this in a matter of minutes. With a natural gourd I would not have been able to get the same "cleanliness" that I did with the SuperGourd." Jace Stansbury, Nederland, TX.