Mites wipe out 10 pair colony

[Condorman]

So when I was there, 1987-1990 there was a large martin roost in the neighborhood just south of Doddridge St. I want to say it was Pearlman St., but I'm not sure if that was the street or the owner of the home. The roost was in a large ash tree in the front yard on the northeast corner of the 4 way intersection of this residential neighborhood. Birds stated congregating there early in the year and by mid July there were probably a thousand birds coming in to roost at dusk. The homeowner hated them and had hung a metal trash can up in the tree with a wooden clapper hanging in the middle, like a giant bell. This was after several years. There was a lot of guano on his driveway, sidewalk and roof of his house.I would have loved it but he didn't. I even remember some birds using it in early spring. I vaguely remember another roost on the campus of the University, in what I think were hackberry trees along the edge of Oso Bay on the southwest side of the campus.

[EngineerBill]

I still to this day use sevin powder in the spring when building my nest. I first add cedar shavings to my super gourd then add 1/4 tsp of sevin spread evenly over the cedar shavings then I add more cedar shavings on top. I have been doing this for so many years I cannot remember when I started doing it. I have not had a mite problem since using this method.

EngineerBill

[Spiderman]

Very sorry to hear this. Just terrible.. 1/8 to 1/4 tsp sevin dust “under” the nest works great to keep mites down. And if put under the nests the martins never come in direct contact with it so it’s safe, when used this way. It works great. Haven’t had any jumpers or mites since using it this manner..
Good luck in the future
Rob

This is the way I have done it for 20 years.

Always had racks full of adults and happy babies.

[Chattykathy]

I’ve had mites also….this year I changed my nests (I only had 3) at 10 days old for the hatchlings and used carbaryl I bought a huge bottle of it on Amazon this summer…it will last a long while. I put the carbaryl at the bottom of the gourd then cedar shavings then pine needles….no mites after the nest exchanges!

[Spiderman]

1/4 teaspoon of 5% Sevin dust (eBay) on the nesting material and tap it down with a spoon.

If all mites aren’t gone in a couple of days repeat.

It really doesn’t take much to be effective.

[Condorman]

Avian Insect Liquidator. AIL. Bought in concentrate or ready to use spray. Simple, easy, extremely safe and very effective. Or sevin dust 5% around edges of nests.

" Hey Dave. I did buy the Avian Insect Liquidadtor...not cheap for a small spray bottle. Thanks for that advice. Have had trouble finding the Seven 5%. I bought from one company and what they sent was not 5% even though it was advertised as such. Read some reviews and folks all said the same thing...the company sends the less effective assuming you'll just accept it. I sent it back and got my money back...but still having no luck finding the Sevin 5%. Can't find anyone that carries it.

Not going to accept mite infestation this year so pulling out all stops. The metal aluminum housing I'm using have been dusted inside with DE. I found some very tightly woven outside carpet with rubber backing and have cut that into sizes to fit each compartment, then dusted the carpet with DE. Now I'm going to put in a handful of ground up pine needles, maybe 1-2" long needles, this will cover the carpet. Now thinking about a spoonful of coffee grounds mixed in with the pine needles, but looking for pros and cons".

[Martintown33]

Hi condor man. I totally understand you want to prevent a mite infestation!! I’ve been through that once! No fun. But DE isn’t a good choice in my humble opinion. It gets airborne inside the compartment, and the martins can inhale it. It is like minuscule shards of glass getting into their lungs. You would be better off using a weaker Sevin dust and just reapply more often. And I use the avian insect liquidator also. It works great and is safe .. I spray the compartment or gourd. Let it dry. Then put a little Sevin dust in , then put pine needles to prenest. Then repeat Sevin only as needed. You don’t need much. The mites will find it!
Good luck
Rob

[Conrad Baker]

Avian Insect Liquidator. AIL. Bought in concentrate or ready to use spray. Simple, easy, extremely safe and very effective. Or sevin dust 5% around edges of nests.

" Hey Dave. I did buy the Avian Insect Liquidadtor...not cheap for a small spray bottle. Thanks for that advice. Have had trouble finding the Seven 5%. I bought from one company and what they sent was not 5% even though it was advertised as such. Read some reviews and folks all said the same thing...the company sends the less effective assuming you'll just accept it. I sent it back and got my money back...but still having no luck finding the Sevin 5%. Can't find anyone that carries it.

Not going to accept mite infestation this year so pulling out all stops. The metal aluminum housing I'm using have been dusted inside with DE. I found some very tightly woven outside carpet with rubber backing and have cut that into sizes to fit each compartment, then dusted the carpet with DE. Now I'm going to put in a handful of ground up pine needles, maybe 1-2" long needles, this will cover the carpet. Now thinking about a spoonful of coffee grounds mixed in with the pine needles, but looking for pros and cons".

I agree with Martintown33. Studies have shown that when the birds flap their wings inside the compartments, the DE floats around and is inhaled by the young and adults too and causes serious respiratory problems. I apply Sevin when I put the houses up, after the eggs are laid, and after the young grow feathers, but haven't started fledging yet (don't want to scare them into jumping). I was having trouble finding Sevin, so I went to the garden shop and bought some "Hy-Yield" livestock and poultry dust. It works just as well as the Sevin, and is safe enough to apply directly to poultry and livestock, so I'm sure it is safe for the PM. I just sprinkle some in the crevices and corners of the compartments, and under the nests.

[randyM]

I've always applied Sevin dust to each nest cavity at the beginning of the season when I pre-nest all cavities with pine needles. Nonetheless, later in the nesting season mites inevitably show up. I have a rather large colony where re-applying Sevin dust to each nest or completing nest changes is not practical. During past late-season mite infestations I'd apply various types of liquid mite sprays that were labeled as safe for direct use on poultry to the exterior of the bird housing and inside of gourd screw on caps. Before spraying, I would tap lightly on the outside of the gourd or wooden house to mimic a bird landing on the housing. This would cause additional mites to come out of their hiding spaces looking for an avian host to get a blood meal. I'd apply the spray directly to the crawling mites, which would perish instantly. However, residual effect of these products did not seem to have an effect on mites that were not directly sprayed, and I'd have to repeat the process in 2-3 days for a second or third time. I would never apply spray directly into a nest cavity. Last year I used the new Sevin dust and had the worst mite infestation I've ever had, so the new Sevin formulation does not seem to be very effective for mite control.

At that time last year I read an article online about gardeners using a spray solution comprised of 2-3 tablespoons of original (blue) Dawn dish soap mixed with 1 gallon of water spayed directly on their plants with a hand-held spray/misting bottle to kill a host of aphids and other insect pests. The solution needs to be sprayed directly on the pests to kill them and does not have any residual effect on surviving insect pests once the solution dried. The Dawn dish soap brand has higher amounts of surfactants, emulsifiers and other adjuvants than most dish soaps and gardeners claim this soap works better to kill insect pests than any other they’ve tried. Given Dawn has commercials about bathing oil-drenched ducklings and other oiled birds directly in a soapy Dawn solution, I figured this product must be safe for use around all bird species. So I made a gallon of the solution and began to spray mites while they were actively crawling on the outside of my wooden housing and gourds. The results were similar to the other liquid avian insecticides that I had applied in previous years…all mites that were soaked with the soap solution were killed instantly but once the solution dried it would not kill additional mites. I repeated the process on each infested house and gourd in 2-3 days for additional two times and the mite population dipped by about 90%. I had to repeat the spraying process with the Dawn solution one more time during the late nesting season about 3 weeks later. I felt much better about repeatedly spraying dish soap on the bird housing compared to spraying other alternative liquid insecticides (also, the cost is much, much less at the scale I need to spray). At the end of the season after removing the nest material from each gourd I filled a 30-gallon container with the Dawn solution and soaked each gourd for a few minutes to kill any remaining mites, then rinsed them with fresh water and put them in storage for the winter. I now prefer to use a soap solution rather than bleach or alcohol to clean my gourds for winter storage.

I will likely continue to use Sevin (hopefully I can find the 5% formulation) during pre-nesting each spring, but will continue to use the Dawn soap solution to address any large mite infestations that may occur at my colony later during the nesting season.

Randy

[Condorman]

Hi condor man. I totally understand you want to prevent a mite infestation!! I’ve been through that once! No fun. But DE isn’t a good choice in my humble opinion. It gets airborne inside the compartment, and the martins can inhale it. It is like minuscule shards of glass getting into their lungs. You would be better off using a weaker Sevin dust and just reapply more often. And I use the avian insect liquidator also. It works great and is safe .. I spray the compartment or gourd. Let it dry. Then put a little Sevin dust in , then put pine needles to prenest. Then repeat Sevin only as needed. You don’t need much. The mites will find it!
Good luck
Rob

" Thanks Rob. I was keeping the DE issue in my mind as I was thinking about how to address the problem. To address this I put the DE under a tightly woven outdoor carpet with a rubber backing that I had as a covering on the floor of each compartment. I dusted another layer of DE into the weave of the carpet. I then blew on the carpet to blow off any loose DE until I didn't see any airborne DE. I covered this carpet with 1/2-1" layer of fine ground up pine needles and took a teaspoon of coffee grounds and mixed that in with the pine needles. I was very cautious about the weave of the carpet and felt fairly confidant because of the tightness of the weave the birds won't be getting toe nails caught in the fabric.

Part of my problem is these are aluminum houses on telescoping poles (the poles slide up and down within each other, not a nice crank system). So it's not smooth and relatively quiet. Lots of jerking and banging around to get them up and down. In addition I have a homemade system of a hardware cloth/rubber mat wrapped around the poles, and attached to a live wire coming off a cattle electrified fence, as a snake deterrent. I used this last year and no snake problems, but the system is cumbersome when you want to lower the houses. It means disassembling the whole snake guard system to get the houses down. So I'm trying to come up a mite deterrent that will last the entire season.

Still can't find the Sevin 5% dust yet....

Condorman

[Martintown33]

Hi condor. I understand your issue with raising and lowering. Just fyi, the DE won’t do any good when it gets damp. The carpet will hold moisture. I understand you’re doing the best you can with what you have. It’s difficult to control mites if you can’t do regular nest checks and re apply as needed. I wish you the best of luck!! Hopefully no mites..
Rob

[Unk Bond]

Hello
Using a few cedar chips In in the bottom of the nest
Will that keep mites away [ Later