cleaning out martin houses

[karen]

I was wondering if it is really necessary to clean out the housing after the season. A mite can only live a few days without a host and any mite eggs that hatch will die as well. Thanks, Karen

[Louise Chambers]

Mites and bird fleas can survive all winter, even up north, waiting for their hosts to return. Cleaning out old nests is a good idea, for that and other reasons.

[karen]

Thanks for the info . Karen

[Potnecker]

Speaking of mites, I'll be putting my gourds up in about a month. Last year there were some mites in a few of the gourds & I was thinking of being proactive by putting a small amount of Sevin in them prior to the martins arrival. Thinking, if the martins have mites when they arrive, the Sevin will kill the mites. It seemed to work last year when I noticed mites on the gourds & it didn't harm the martins. Good ideal or bad?

[karen]

After reading online about the mites, it sounds like a good idea to sprinkle some in there after nest clean out, as insurance, but I was reading something online from a man who researched the use of sevin dust for mites on purple martins and he said the dust became inactive after about 3 days, due to heat and humidity, so according to him it wouldn't kill them for extended periods. Also he said he had tried diatomaceous earth and it didn't kill the mites, I thought it did.

[Potnecker]

Thanks Karen!