Mites - not always obvious

[Guest]

I know a lot of people are talking about the babies jumping, and the concern is over whether there are mites in the nest.
Just wanted to say that when I looked at the white walls of my T-14 wooden compartments, I couldn't see any mites. A few days ago I put my hand inside of the compartment to see if mites were there. I decided the compartment didn't have mites....I couldn't see any...but I didn't touch the nest or the nest box.
Today I didn't see mites on the walls. when I looked inside of the next box tray, the floor was pulsating with mites and blowflies. So in my case the mites weren't visible on the walls, just in the bottom of the nest.

am posting this in case this might help someone when checking for mites.

sharon

[Mary Wilson-SW Ont]

Sharon, you are right - they are not always obvious, but referring also to your other thread, I would suggest to anyone who looks at their gourds/nests and doesn't see any bugs, DO NOT CONCLUDE they're not there. One look underneatht the nest, as you discovered during your first nest change, will be a shocker. Mites seem to be the cause of premature fledging quite often, but there is quite a variety of tiny things other than mites that make the floor of the cavity look like it is moving, and they are there even if you don't see anything visible on the interior or exterior. I just did 8 nest changes in gourds today at our golf course colony. What a mess (I came home and jumped in the pool, shoes and all - I felt so buggy). None of these nests had any appreciable number of mites, but all those critters which I assume come out at night to suck their blood are gone. It gives them a good chance to fledge now, even if I don't get to do another one. Regarding mites, my experience is that when they become visible to our eye in any large number, then those babies are in danger of being driven out. Visible mites are only the tip of the iceberg. Yesterday, we had a baby on the ground at our home colony. We had time before dark to put him back, so we brought the rack down, and out of 8 gourds, 2 were crawling with mites all over the exterior and the arm they were suspended from. We did quick nest changes and cleanup with the hose, and today all seems well. Last week, at one of our birdbox trails I found a TS nest that was crawling with mites - they were visible all over the outside of the box - I gave them a new nest and cleaned off as many of the mites as I could. I hope they made it - I haven't been back yet to check. Out of 48 wooden boxes, this was the only one with a mite infestation. Out of 8 gourds on this rack, 2 had mites. It makes me wonder if there's something particular in the nest material that the birds bring in that predisposes those nests to mites. On the subject of bugs, I'm not aware that I've ever seen a blowfly either. I have seen a lot of shiny black beetles in the nests, perhaps 1/4" long or a little less. Does anyone know what they are?

Anyway, congratulations on your first nest change. I dread doing them, but always feel better after I have .... once you've seen what those babies contend with, you just have to help !