Cedar Shavings

[Virgil McCoy]

How many of you use cedar shaving for nest material ?

[MartinMan68]

I use a little cedar shavings ,but mostly i use white pine needles.They keep it dryer underneath ,and I use some oak leaves.

[Guest]

Wood shavings are fine as long as they don;t get wet,they dry to slowly and require more nest change outs where as pine needles are not very absorbant at all,just my opinion,

dick

[Guest]

Wood shavings are fine as long as they don;t get wet,they dry to slowly and require more nest change outs where as pine needles are not very absorbant at all,just my opinion,

dick

[Guest]

Wood shavings are fine as long as they don;t get wet,they dry to slowly and require more nest change outs where as pine needles are not very absorbant at all,just my opinion,

dick

[Carlton]

I do not like wood shavings as they do get damp and do not dry out. I tried them twice and both times they were unsatisfactory.

Dry pine needles or dry needles of other evergreens works MUCH better. I found that the martins did not really the wood shavings either and often threw them all out before bringing in their own nesting material. With pine needles I never have to do nest changes.

[Virgil McCoy]

I used Pine Needles purchased from my local nursery last year which I assume are local "Southern Pine" needles. Since its been such a cold winter my thought was to place some cedar shavings on top of my needles and rake them off after a few weeks or as needed ? What variety of Pine tree do these, "White Pine", needles come from and how are they different ?

[flyin-lowe]

I am not sure about ID'ing all the different pines. However some pines have needles about 3-4 inches long that are thin and flexible. These are the ones you want. Some pine trees have needles that are only about an inch long, they are sharp and not flexible, these are the ones you don't want to use.

[Carlton]

http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/tr ... strob.html


The white pine has 5 needles but cluster and the needles are soft and flexible. It is not a southern tree unless up in a mountainous area of The South.

White pine needles are great but not necessary. I have used both Yellow Pine and White Pine and both work just fine. Personally, I use the Loblolly pine that is so common throughout The South. Sometimes I just cram them into the gourd and sometimes I cut them in half to put them into Trio or Trendsetter houses.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I tried cedar shavings and the martins threw them out, they picked up pine needles and sticks...

[Sparky]

I use Aspen shavings. They don't pickup moisture. Of course, now that my colony is mature, I don't use anything but pne needles in the gourds and nothing in the house compartments. In the house compartments, I find they sweep the house clean right down to the nest tray. So, I quit putting anything in the nest trays.

[Robbo]

I have tried everthing. I now just put in Alfalfa hay and let them decide. I just use Sevin / nest changes and keep dry. If she prefers mud on the walls
Rob.

[Guest]

I put it in.. the Martins throw it out... they also throw out the pine needles. They do like the hay... and the leaves from the bradford pear tree. I find mostly small coarse sticks and leaves with mud in the nests here at my colony.