Advice please--do I clean out old nests?
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Guest
This is my second year as a landlord. Last year I had 3 successful nests and 12 fledged. My house is aluminum and I can open the compartments. Should I clean out the old nests or leave them alone? If I should clean them, what would be the best way? I'd appreciate any advice you could give me.----Joan in La.
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Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6208
- Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi, TX
Hi LA Joan, from TX Louise 
Yes, it's recommended that you remove old nests. There may be nest parasites overwintering in them, waiting for their hosts to return (fleas and nest mites are most common) Plus old nests can retain moisture and promote growth of aspergillosis spores. The martins won't abandon the site if you leave nests intact?in fact, they will choose compartments with old dirty nests over clean empty compartments. So we suggest that you put some clean nest material into compartments and gourds after cleaning.
You can remove old nests with your hand or a plastic scraper (wear rubber gloves though and don't breathe 'nest dust' - wear a dust filter or mist cavities with water first to decrease amount of dust you might inhale) Toss them into trash or your compost heap. You might find a few unhatched eggs or dead nestlings - that's normal. Then you can spray the house down with a hose, inside and out. If it's very dirty sponge the inside with a mix of dishwashing liquid & water before rinsing again. You can also use a 10% bleach solution which is a good disinfectant for bird houses and feeders - that's one part bleach to nine parts water. Rinse thoroughly and allow housing to dry completely.
Good materials to use to replace old nests include pine straw or wood shavings (aspen, pine or cedar are all good, but don't use sawdust or shavings from treated wood); many landlords use a combination of pine straw and wood shavings. Place an inch or two in each compartment, then plug cavities to keep out House Sparrows and starlings. You can open a few cavities when martins have been reported near you (check PMCA's scout arrival map, on main web page). Or open when the martins return to your yard - they'll let you know they're back
welcome to the Forum!
Louise
Yes, it's recommended that you remove old nests. There may be nest parasites overwintering in them, waiting for their hosts to return (fleas and nest mites are most common) Plus old nests can retain moisture and promote growth of aspergillosis spores. The martins won't abandon the site if you leave nests intact?in fact, they will choose compartments with old dirty nests over clean empty compartments. So we suggest that you put some clean nest material into compartments and gourds after cleaning.
You can remove old nests with your hand or a plastic scraper (wear rubber gloves though and don't breathe 'nest dust' - wear a dust filter or mist cavities with water first to decrease amount of dust you might inhale) Toss them into trash or your compost heap. You might find a few unhatched eggs or dead nestlings - that's normal. Then you can spray the house down with a hose, inside and out. If it's very dirty sponge the inside with a mix of dishwashing liquid & water before rinsing again. You can also use a 10% bleach solution which is a good disinfectant for bird houses and feeders - that's one part bleach to nine parts water. Rinse thoroughly and allow housing to dry completely.
Good materials to use to replace old nests include pine straw or wood shavings (aspen, pine or cedar are all good, but don't use sawdust or shavings from treated wood); many landlords use a combination of pine straw and wood shavings. Place an inch or two in each compartment, then plug cavities to keep out House Sparrows and starlings. You can open a few cavities when martins have been reported near you (check PMCA's scout arrival map, on main web page). Or open when the martins return to your yard - they'll let you know they're back
welcome to the Forum!
Louise
Hi, I did something stupid in my first year of martining. I put wool fibers in all the cleaned compartments. I thought the martins would like it untill I found all of the martins pulling it out and droping it to the ground! Joining the PMCA really helped my intelligence quotient for martineering!
Fledge on!
Nanette
Nanette