Bird-nest mites - Any way to get rid of them?

ky395 · Thu Jun 11, 2015 4:29 pm

Only on a couple of my gourds - 100's of them crawling all over the outside of gourds. I have to assume they are inside the gourds also. Any way to get rid of them outside of complete nest change? - Thanks

Patrick W. Dusek · Thu Jun 11, 2015 4:55 pm

Some Seven dust. Patrick

stan davison · Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:24 pm

a small amount on the inside of the gourds away from young and nest cup. Sprinkle it. 7 five %.

Louise Chambers · Thu Jun 11, 2015 6:15 pm

You can also wipe off a lot of the mites on outsides - take a paper towel and dampen with regular rubbing alcohol, wipe off mites - or use hand sanitizer, or baby wipes. bag and discard the towels! Be sure to wipe/clean around the caps and rims - they tend to hide there. The sooner you get this done, the better, so they won't spread to every gourd, but you might as well treat every gourd now.

avesrun · Thu Jun 11, 2015 6:47 pm

What type of device works well for sprinkling the sevin inside the gourd effectively. Thanks!
TimG

John Miller · Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:27 pm

Tim

People use different sevin techniques.
some folks h ave tried to use a turkey baster thing and squirt sevin power deep into the nest.

Can only say what I do. When my babies are about 15 days, I put a small amount of sevin out of the product canister into a separate container, such as a plastic cup. I use a regular spoon and dip about one-fourth teaspoon (I don't measure exactly) and maybe get it on a line on the edge of the spoon and tap into one side of the nest, then the other. It doesn't take much. If I saw mites everywhere as you will, you could put a little more, but not much. Mites will be gone in 24 hours. Try to avoid direct into the nest bowl or on birds.

John

jmrepko66 · Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:30 pm

Has anyone ever tried seven granules?

Louise Chambers · Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:02 pm

I think anything in granular form would be a bad idea, since nestlings or parents might pick them up and eat them as grit.

jmrepko66 · Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:33 pm

Good point Louise. Just seen an advertisement for it and thought it might be easier to apply but can see where martins would be tempted to try eating them. That would not be good.

DebA · Thu Jun 11, 2015 9:35 pm

I do just like John does. Could be because I learned from him a few years ago. It is like magic and no mites the next day. I use a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon that I keep in my Sevin container.
Deb

Craig Dyer · Thu Jun 11, 2015 11:37 pm

My two cents...
I use a 1/8th of a teaspoon (small plastic measuring spoon) and tap under the nest trays or around the perimeter of the nest. A little goes a long way. Mites are gone within 24 to 48 hours.

Larry A Kronemeyer · Fri Jun 12, 2015 7:59 am

We use a tupperware iced tea spoon. Plastic. Long slightly curved handle reaches into sevin container and gourds easily. Bowl of spoon can deliver up to a teaspoon of sevin.

terriergal · Wed Jul 01, 2015 12:32 pm

ky395 wrote:Only on a couple of my gourds - 100's of them crawling all over the outside of gourds. I have to assume they are inside the gourds also. Any way to get rid of them outside of complete nest change? - Thanks

I know people might frown on this, but I keep some avian mite spray handy for pet birds. I don't treat naked chicks but if they have feathers I will put a little on their backs, which will generally get rid of most of the mites within a day. I also spray it in the nest cavity and let it air dry before putting the babies back in. These things are nasty buggers and the chemical is permethrin/pyrethrin that you use on your cats and dogs (cat and bird spray is safer than dog flea/mite/lice spray because it is made for animals that lick themselves).

I have heard horror stories from people who let birds nest near their houses and end up with them in the house and nothing seems to work to get rid of them all. So I don't mess around. Have never seen any bad results from getting the chemicals near the birds.

I treat the posts with the season long Home Defense spray too, so that ants cannot go up and attack. But this does nothing for the mites, which come in on the parents or the nesting material.

Sevin dust also works, and people who raise birds dust their birds with it too, so I don't think it's going to harm the martins if you put some in the nest cavities.

terriergal · Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:07 pm

and i just discovered the same problem on my martin house. LOADS and loads of mites. UGH. Gross things. But in checking all the nests I discovered there are 16 partially feathered fat chicks not 13 as I had seen earlier.

tor · Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:51 pm

I don't wait until the babies hatch. Once I see the first egg, the seven goes in underneath the nest, doing Mom and Dad a favor.

dhjohnson · Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:42 pm

Sevin is definately the ticket! I have tried spoons, etc...best and uses less is the toe section of ladies hose! You get an even dusting but use less than a teaspoon! Dust around the access port. Inside porch, slightly and bump a few times around the interior edge of the gourd!

I treat just before eggs hatch and again at 15 day post hatching! Mites are ruthless in wet weather!
Good luck!