nest change at day 14...I am a believer now

[Guest]

guess I am an official landlord now..just did a nest change at day 14....
I wouldn't have believed it was possible to have so many parasites in one nest.
I took out the Troyer nest box tray and put in a fresh nest tray and fresh pine needles, etc. wiped all the mites off the bottom of house, and put a bit of Seven under the box itself.

Later when I looked at the actual nest I removed, it was still in the old nest box tray....there were about 30 gorged blowflies as well as mites. the bottom of the box was just pulsating.
I had never experienced this before with bluebird nests. Sometimes the bluebird nest would have 2 or 3 blowflies in it after they fledged, but that was about it. but I usually put a bit of diatomaceous earth in the bluebird box, under the nest. but I had put some of this under the nest box tray for the martins too, and still this huge parasite load. it was amazing.
sharon

the number of parasites in the martin nest was amazing.
they definitely get a new nest in another 5 or 6 days.
sharon

[Laverne]

Good job, Sharon.

I'll bet your next nest change won't have any parasites. Sevin does its job - nest trays help a lot to keep the young and the pesticide separate.

Thanks for your report. Aren't those little guys getting cute?

[Guest]

Laverne
wasn't sure if the Seven should go under the tray or under the nest. but thought under the tray would keep it away from the babies. there isn't much of a nest.
sounds like you think it should go under the tray....so looks like I got it right.
thanks
sharon

[Laverne]

It would be okay to put inside the nest tray if there was adequate nest material to protect the nestlings from the Sevin. But, you just changed out the nest material and put them into a fresh nest tray - under the nest tray should control any new mites. Ewwww - you mentioned blow flies. I gotta tell you, I have no experience with blow flies - I have never seen one in a PM nest. Maybe you should put Sevin under the nest material inside the nest tray to control those guys. (They don't behave the same way mites do) You know you can use hay or grass clippings for nest material. Just make it thick enough to keep the nestlings away from the Sevin.

[Guest]

Laverne.
thanks for responding.
the blow fly were red/purple gorged with martin blood. I never have seen so many!
my Sevin is about 19 years old....I bought it to be ready for my first pair...then it went out of style, and the PMCA recommended diatomaceous earth. Looks like there has been a swing back, and now people are talking about Sevin again.
Since my Sevin is so old, I am not sure it will work. Will get some new Sevin to have on hand, and then look tomorrow.
thanks
sharon
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[Laverne]

Sharon - they say that stuff has a shelf life of a million years...

[Guest]

Sharon, I have used sevin this year for the first time. Last year ended sadly with a huge mite "explosion" and a few of the late babies didn't survive the mite infestation. It was such a sad end, and I vowed that I would do my best to avoid a repeat scenario. So -- this year I sprayed with liquid sevin before putting in the nest material at the very start of the season, and then after eggs were laid, I added 1/4 teaspoon of 5% sevin dust under the leaves and nest material toward the front of each nest. I happily report that there were no signs of mites this year! In past years, I had used a small amount of DE mixed in with the cedar shavings that I put in each nest at the start of the season, but after last year and the mite problem, I decided that sevin was worth trying. It seems to have worked wonderfully, and the babies were healthy and happy this year. We fledged 33 healthy little PMs! I'm glad for you and your baby martins that you discovered the infestation -- and hopefully, the sevin dust will be just the ticket to control any further problems. Best of luck with the rest of the season! -- Roslyn

[Guest]

interesting that the diatomaceous earth didn't seem to work last year. I think I will check again tomorrow and see if the Sevin has them all.
I am really glad I had an extra nest tray to use.
Laverne just posted that my old Sevin should still be good. So will see tomorrow.
sharon