Time to collect pine needles

[John Miller]

At least around St. Louis, brown needles on white pines are really dropping now. Collected 4 bags yesterday for pre-nest material, and will get more.

I just swirl it into gourds, and crunch up some for nest trays in houses so it lays flatter in the trays.

Some white pines seem to drop more than others, or may drop more in alternate years.
John M

[gwarnerjr]

Got mine last week. They usually drop just before the leaves here.

[Peter Alberda]

Last summer I put white pine needles in all my nestboxs but they added pieces of corn stalks and soybean stalks and ignored my nice tray full of pine needles. I'll still offer them but they seem to prefer the others. Today I turned all my trays around and found that almost all the nests had what appeared to be swirls made for potential nests. I had one pair build a next and several lookers so am looking forward to next season.

Pete

[~Ray~Gingerich]

When I collect my pine needles I get several bags of long course needles, I use those in the bottom of my nests then fill in the top with softer white pine needles. I can shape a nice nest bowl with the larger needles. When martins build a nest on their own they often use courser materials on the bottom, sometimes using chopped up soybean & corn stalks.

[jr 2]

not that many pine trees here close by;;wheat straw worked fine for me last year with the 7 pair that i had and the birds seemed too like it;still have a half of a bale left;i used it too build prenest and put it on the ground for them too use and that is mostly all i found in their nest except a few sticks and odds and ends like some of my plastic flower tags that i left on the ground;;;jr2

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I supply them and there always are pine needles available for them. Early in the season, they take in the stems from pecan limbs (1/8in round x 9in long approx, and line the bottom with the large pecan stems. They use whatever is available. My daughter lived near a field, and they picked up thick grass vines and used them. This year I will try shredded corn stalks, and also shredded leaves from the sago palms (the palm leaves are very hard and do not absorb water.)..just curious to see what they like.

[DakotaLady]

I've already collected pine needles, cleaned my gourds and placed the fresh pine needles in all my gourds. Everything is ready for next year. I can hardly wait.

[Dale D]

With January just around the corner I decided to get out and gather my pine needles today. Only took me about 15 minutes and I filled a 32 gallon trash bag 3/4 full.

[Carlton]

I collected three old laundry baskets full of loblolly pine needles. The open weave of the baskets gives the needles some air circulation in case any of them still had moisture in them. I have used the loblolly pine for years and they work just fine. Sometimes the needles are softer than others as the needles fall in the road and get run over by cars. That softens them up. The birds do not seem to mind even the stiffer needles though. I always put some mouse bait poison in the garage too as I do not want mice coming in the winter in the needles.

[Mike in NC]

Some of our neighbors use pine needles for mulch. My wife and I enjoy watching our martins pilfer the pine needles from their mulch piles to use as nesting material

[John Miller]

An observation. Have had trouble getting pine needles to lay flat in my house nest trays and martins may push them out, whereas I swirl big handfuls into my gourds. So have learned that if I use needles that have aged a bit -- from bags at least a year old -- they are crunchier and I can crumble them up a bit and they lay flater in the trays. I do the same somtimes if I'm using wheat straw in house trays. John M

[Dale D]

I have the same problem John. They are easy to work with in the gourds but, difficult in the nest boxes for the houses. As you said I think crumbling them some helps. I wish there was an easy way to cut them in half. I think they would be easier to manage in the nest boxes that way.

[Carlton]

I put on gloves, lay the needles the same direction, and cut a bunch at a time. Works for me. The houses do not take all that many needles anyway compared to the gourds.

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

We use the pine needles for the base in all housing. Then we put ornamental grass ( porcupine grass and etc. ) leaves in the feeding tray for them to use for their nest building. A lot cleaner than corn stalks. And they will come down in groups and fight for the grass leaves. We use the smallest bungie cords to sling over leaves to prevent the wind from blowing it and they just pull the leaves out.

[FredH]

My first year I did no nest prep. I had two m12k trio houses most of the compartments were expanded. I was lucky enough to get 7pair and hatched around 30 birds. I will keep better records this year. When you put down pine needles, do you put them in both compartments of an expanded house or just the back compartment where they build their nests? This year I have added another m12k house and have expanded all the compartments. I just received 12 crescent doors to use on the new house and some on the old houses. Will this be a problem for the returning birds. I hear the birds don't like changes to their houses. If you guys have any advise for a new landlord it would be greatly appreciated.

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

We only put pine needles in nest area, as the birds will scatter it everywhere anyway. Put your crescent doors on, the may look troubled, but the female goes in, the male learns real quick. My wife's saying is sex and bugs and crescent holes. Ours never missed abeat. You'll find there will be the odd starling because of size might still get in, but it's rare. On our trendsetter, we had one male martin that was a little larger than most and we had to modify the door and the nest tray for him only. These are rare but it is FIY.

[FredH]

Thanks Larry