What is the best nest bedding material?

[Spiderman]

I use pine straw too. Pick it up at parks in town.

Drains water quickly and last for the season without deteriorating.

Makes clean up go faster when season is over.

[Rick B]

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Not sure what is the best , but i started using soybean stems a few years ago with great success. After the field is pick I take the riding lawn mower and start driving in circles and making piles to pick up. I store them in a 50 gallon drum just making sure thay are completely dry to prevent mold. I do add some white pine needles to the mixture when prenesting. When just using pine needles the martins seemed to push them aside in the gourds and nest trays.

Rick

[Conrad Baker]

Pine needles. I order it from this website, under the "Shop Purple Martin" section. I am waiting for an order now, I should get it any day. It is always perfectly clean and dry.

[Thomabear]

Has anyone ever tried cypress tree leaves? I have access to a ton of this stuff along with pine needles.

[Conrad Baker]

Two replies above, I wrote that I order the pine needles from here. I order them every year, and ordered more on Dec 1st. I just received them today. They are priced right and arrive clean and dry. Order some now so you can get them and start getting the housing ready. It won't be long before we will start seeing the Scout Arrival Reports.

[mjfog]

Last season I "prenested" 1/2 of my 72 gourds with slash pine needles, the dominate nesting material in this part of southeastern Florida. I have 3 racks of 24 gourds each and added needles to every other gourd - as random as I could get. So 36 had needles and 36 were empty. If my memory serves me correctly, I had one "prenested" gourd with no eggs and a single "empty" gourd with no eggs. The 70 other gourds had eggs. Makes this land lord think "prenesting" is a waste of time. I think of it more as a "feel good" thing for the individual land lord. No "prenesting" this season for me.
Began hanging my gourds on 12/22/22 because of that sighting in the West Palm Beach area, about 25 miles south of where I am in Palm City. I usually don't see "my" martins until mid-January but "ya never know."
Happy Holidays to all you folks out there and have a Happy Martining Season. Mike

[brent]

Mjfog you are probably right. I prenest with pine needles. I make a really nice bed. Whether it’s used for nesting or not it makes a nice space for those tired hungry martins, especially if it’s cold. Last year all my nest were prenested. The martins built over it utilizing the pine needles as part of the nest. It was the base for them. It was one of my more successful season. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and gentle peace to every one. Brent

[mjfog]

None. Let the females decide.

[Spiderman]

Any pine tree needles work great!

[defed]

None. Let the females decide.

my only pair built a beautiful nest on top of the pine needles i put in for them. if nothing else, it lifted their nest up off the floor in case any moisture got in.