My Site 2009

[ljd-kc]

My site one rainy morning. I have just a handful of nest to fledge, the weather has been mild compared to the extremes most have been reporting. We have had probably only 6 or 7 days of excessive heat. One of the pictures shows the typical mite problem I have been fighting this later part of the season.

Jack

[Allan Day]

Wow, nice site. Congrats on your explosive growth. I grew up in Warrensburg and we could never get Martins. I wish I could try again with the knowledge that I picked up on the forum.
Good to see a fellow missourian having great success.
Allan

[CraigMo.]

Jack that is a nice site. Lots of martins. Mine have basically left now. A couple might fly by now and then. Have you ever tried Sevin for getting rid of mites? It always works good for me. I did not have much of a mite problem this year and did not even use Sevin and I am just north of you.

Allan I started my martineering in Warrensburg and I thought the martins were thick there. Actually I think Missouri seems to have a high population of martins or I am just one lucky person.

[ljd-kc]

Allan,

Thanks, I owe the colony growth to the info I have gathered from the forum. The forum has provided me the luxury of using the experience of landlords who have been doing this for a very long time. Instead of the trial and error method which I would have use if not for it.

Craig,

I did use a 1/4 teaspoon of sevin placed under the nest at the access port after the babies were about a week old. But I must have not spread it out well enough. When I did my nest changes on the mite infested nests I sprinkled about a 1/2 teaspoon full in the bottom of the gourd before I placed new nesting material in and this has kept them at bay. Next year I will put it under my pre-nests, something I should have done this year.

Jack

[Allan Day]

Craig, you're right, Warrensburg is great Martin territory. My parents just had our house in the wrong place. A low lying area, too close to trees, with no pest control.
I'm absolutely positive, I could get them today.

[Peggy Riley]

Very nice!

[KathyF]

Next year I will put it under my pre-nests, something I should have done this year.

Jack

Jack, in my experience, using Sevin at the beginning of the year does not help at all. Once the Sevin gets wet (and it will during the first few weeks the martins are home) it becomes ineffective. I did it and when the babies hit 11-12 days old, there was still an explosion of mites. I suggest waiting until the babies are 10-12 days old, then doing a nest change and putting the Sevin (1/4 tsp.) under the nest then. By the way, instead of using the powdered Sevin, I cut 3x3" squares of cardboard out of an old box, sprayed them down with liquid Sevin until they were soaked. I then let them dry and during my first (and only) nest changes, I shoved a piece of cardboard under each nest.

It worked well and I didn't have to worry about me (when applying it) or the babies getting the Sevin dust in their lungs. Just another method.

Anyway, very, very nice site! thanks for the pictures - my martins have mostly left now, with just one nest left to fledge. I'm going to Tulsa this year to get my last martin "fix". Congratulations on a great year!

[ljd-kc]

Peggy, Thank You.

Kathy, Hey that cardboard trick sounds like a very good idea! I will have to give that a try next year. Thanks for the tip.

Jack

[The Olsons]

Jack,

Very, very nice site and congratulations on a successful season. It looks like you have your housing lowered? Is it permanent or just for that particular day? I have started to keep my housing lowered all the time because of all the wind and unpredictable weather we had before.

In regards to the Sevin, I think Kathy has a great idea. Fortunately, we did not have any mite problems this year. I applied it at the beginning of the season and when the first eggs were laid, but we also did not have (hardly) any rain. I like the cardboard idea and probably will try it myself next year.

Again, great job and congratulations

Astrid

[Guest]

Good idea Kathy.

[ljd-kc]

Astrid,

Hey, where I have my racks they are in a draw, which was the most open part of my yard. With the location being so low I made my poles 21' tall in hopes that the martins would accept it. Once they moved in and got started good, I lowered them down to 16' which is what the pictures show. I did have them lowered to about 8' for about a month during a string of bad weather after I had read a post of yours earlier stating that your birds had accepted the lower height readily. They do like to sit on top of the 21' tall perches a lot though. I was glad to see you had a great year and after seeing your snake pictures I am adding snake netting below my regular predator guards next year.

Thanks, Jack

[teridickinson]

Astrid,

Hey, where I have my racks they are in a draw, which was the most open part of my yard. With the location being so low I made my poles 21' tall in hopes that the martins would accept it. Once they moved in and got started good, I lowered them down to 16' which is what the pictures show. I did have them lowered to about 8' for about a month during a string of bad weather after I had read a post of yours earlier stating that your birds had accepted the lower height readily. They do like to sit on top of the 21' tall perches a lot though. I was glad to see you had a great year and after seeing your snake pictures I am adding snake netting below my regular predator guards next year.

Thanks, Jack

Are those removable predator guards? Do get on a ladder to take them on and off, or do you do all your nest checks from a ladder?

[ljd-kc]

Teridickinson,

Yes they are removable predator guards that I got from the PMCA, and I do have to get on a step ladder to remove them. With the 21' tall poles my cable winch had to be mounted a little over 36" off of the ground due to the length of the cable that came with the winch. When I lower the gourds as far as possible I can check bottom gourds without a ladder but I have to use a ladder for the upper gourds. Same goes for the T-14. Next year I am going to get a longer cable and make a setup I have seen on this forum where you can pivot your winch away from the pole and then lower the racks clear to the ground if you wanted to. This is another one of the many changes I need to make for next year. The step ladder for the upper gourds is a real pain.

Thanks,

Jack

[The Olsons]

Jack,

Be careful with that stepladder, maybe you can have a second person be with you. Not that it is too high but mine flipped a couple of years ago and I have know idea how, but it was not fun Of course, I was bare foot on it and broke a little toe and had some scrapes

I also have that removable predator guard from the PMCA above the netting, which again had proven as a good protector for the martins early this morning when some sort of a critter (I asked for ID in a different post) tried to get up there by jumping. I heard all the scratching and thumping when the critter fell down a couple of times. He then saw me opening the blinds and took off. Those guards are very good for climbing predators

I am glad that you plan on having netting as well next year

Astrid

[Show-Me-Mike]

Jack,

Great set-up you have! I'm east of you about 50 miles and I've experienced the same weather and mite problem as you. Kathy is correct about the early application of sevin. It becomes ineffective after it gets wet. I usually have to reapply the sevin 2-3 times during the season to completely rid the mites.

Looks like you've had a very successful season and congratulations! As of today, I still have 20-30 martins still hanging around plus one(1) remaining nest belonging to a late-nesting ASY pair. The babies should fledge the first week of August, the latest ever for my colony.

Best wishes to all for a successful conclusion to the season.

Michael DeLany