You are one smart guy. Not only do you use the birds for pest extermination and visual entertainment, but you understand that politicians are the biggest pests of all. Keep the videos coming!
Oh my gosh I'm not even Canadian but I'm rolling on the floor laughing everytime you pop Trudeau on there saying "moistly". Thanks for the giggles today. And I appreciate your ideas because we suffer mosquitos here in east coast USA. I'm going to build a martin house today! But also, I eat at least a garlic clove and a medium onion every day, in different forms, and I do not get attacked by mosquitos like my neighbor who is allergic to them. So that's a form of protection even when you leave your own yard :) And garlic and onions ward off cancer and other dread diseases.
@@ArkopiaUA-cam The problem is just ignoring politicians isn't going to prevent them from trying to find every single possible way to take advantage of your blood, sweat and tears. We are getting very close to the government taking over our lives like stalin, mao and hitlar did in the past - those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
A bat roost must be pretty easy to create. As he demonstrated, a communal place to (literally) hang out with an easy way to get into it from below and no bottom so they can just fertilize the ground right under it. You know what's great about bats? They speak in frequencies that are often not annoying to people.
Last spring a family of swallows built a nest under my carport. It was a mess. I would tear them down they would build another, I gave up but before the end of the year I noticed that I had no mosquito's and I usually get eaten even in my house. Amazing birds.
I have 12 swallow houses inhabited and the babies just took their maiden flight a couple days ago. The sky around our 50-acre farm (northern Maine) was dotted with swallows, all playing, chirping, and putting on quite an aerial acrobatics show. Not to be outdone, our barn swallow babies also made an appearance and added even more numbers and chaos (18,000 sq.ft. barn providing lots of space for them). They all come each year and entertain us, usually tree swallows first then barn swallows a week or two later. I love to sit out on the deck and just watch them. We even brush our dog and throw the shed fur out onto the lawn. The perpetual wind we have swirls the hair into the air and the swallows make a game of catching the tufts, flying around with them and using them for their nests. We strategically placed the houses around our three 40' x 60' gardens, our fruit trees, and raised beds. There are two that were placed at the edge of the fields closer to the woods. One of those was stolen by a pair of blue birds who usually nest in our backyard in the woods, but tried something different this year. It's all good though, they eat a lot of bugs too and produced 4 babies. I'm hoping they'll have a second clutch this year. I love all of them and eagerly await their arrival each year.
I do contract services in northern Maine. I’ve seen a couple of properties like the one you just described. If you have contracted a service worker in the past two years I believe we have met. Cheers, those high bird population properties are outstanding
Oh I love your intro. For Halloween I once had a tick costume and I grabbed a tie and a binder labeled "Fees & Fines" then put dollar bills on the fangs. People were so confused until I told them I was a money sucking politician.
Here in the states bird based charities recommend against the perch out in front of a bird house. The swallows at most need a tiny little nubbin but can usually land right in the hole. The perch becomes a place for magpies and jays to hold on while they raid the nest to eat chicks or eggs. Edit: Also bats /can/ eat that many mosquitoes, but they don't. Mostly they eat moths, especially the larger bats that /can/ eat more bugs.
Out in the mountains in California you could sleep on the porch because the bats were so effective at mosquitoes... in Texas I wish we could own f15s because the mosquitoes this year are bad.... damn you bill gates
I hate to contradict you, but, I've been raising purple martins for 35 years and have been a member of the Purple Martin Conservation Association and an avid reader of their magazine monthly for decades. I'm also a bird rehabilitator. My colony is 64 breeding pairs, the most successful colony in the area. Purple Martins feed on flying insects during daylight hours. They do not feed at night. Mosquitos rapidly dehydrate in sunlight and must hide in deep dark vegetation during the daytime to prevent dehydration and death. They come out at night when Martins are inactive in their houses. The fact is there have been far more Martins eaten by mosquitos than mosquitos eaten by Martins. Mosquitos get into Martin houses at night and suck a blood meal out of baby Martins in the nests. When mosquito infestations are high, they can literally kill the Martin babies. The false fable that Martins eat mosquitos was started by a purple martin house manufacturer in Griggsville, Illinois back in the 60s and 70s. They sold a lot of Martin houses for sure, but Martins don't eat mosquitos, period. Now, do you want to hear the sad part? The biggest killers of mosquitos are dragonflies! Nothing kills more mosquitos than dragonflies. Guess what the favorite food of Purple Martins is? You guessed it; dragonflies. In actual fact, the more Purple Martins you have, the more dragonflies they'll eat, and the more mosquitos you'll have. Again, the more Purple Martins you have, the more mosquitos you'll have. Sorry to be the bearer of such sad tidings. But check me out on everything I've said and you'll hear the same thing from the most prominent Purple Martin experts in this country. If you want to kill mosquitos, put up bat houses. The more, the merrier. Bats feed on flying insects at night, just when the mosquitos are out and about. You'll kill mosquitos by the millions while reducing their populations so they don't kill your baby Martins. And if you know how to increase your local population of dragonflies, then you'll REALLY wreak havoc on the mosquito populations. Good luck and God speed!
Thank you for all that info. Yes, many folks are teaching me many things about martins I didn’t know. Only 2% of their diet is mosquitos, where as swallows and bats are much better. Thanks again.
@@firstname-qq3xp Dragonflies eat mosquito larvae. Bats eat flying mosquitos at night. You can find more information by doing some research about mosquitos and about dragonflies.
Awesome. Back in the 70s we used to have a giant purple Martin house. We used a 4 wheel drive truck to lever it up in the air. It had a hugh concrete footing on the end of a flagpole like pipe. What an undertaking to clean it yearly.. Let's just say it didn't always get the cleaning it should. And half the battle was keeping the sparrows out of it.
We used to raise Purple Martins on the Beach Strip in Hamilton in the 70's. Then they never returned. Ever. They require the exact size hole for them to accept the nest. Andrew. Victoria. BC.
Good and old remedies, sometimes generally people forget this easy step our grandfather teach as when we are kids then with years and commodity they forget....but is good u post this video for don't forget again 😉 😀
Ticks rely on small warm blooded mammals as hosts and disease reservoir. Install a Barn Owl nest box. A nesting pair will consume more than 3,000 voles in a season. The Idaho Extension has a plan to build two Barn Owl nest boxes from one sheet of exterior plywood. Mount it 8 feet high. Make the opening oval, no more than 4 x 5 inches. Have the opening facing away from the winter wind.
I hate to disappoint you but purple martins eat very few if any mosquitoes. Their feeding style eliminates mosquitoes as a food item on their menu. Martins feed at altitude. Much higher than the maximum average altitude that mosquitoes fly. One of the martins favorite meals are dragonflies, which actually do eat mosquitoes. Dragonflies and bats are the best bet for mosquito control. I have provided housing for martins for about 30 years but unfortunately have never seen a mosquito reduction. But that isn’t why I love having them around for a few months. Their graceful flight antics and their song is the reason I have them. Thank you for providing housing for them.
Yes, I see a few comments now about that. Upon further looking into it, your info is correct. The martins only eat 2% mosquitos, and it is the swallows that doing the majority of mosquito control. And bats. Thanks for the info. ✌️
SW Ontario here. My father-in-law built purple martin houses 20+ yrs ago & put them up at our ditch. I love walking back there and watching them fly around
Oh Canada! Really enjoyed the Trudeau montage! Your very relaxed, informative and have a humorous delivery… definitely subscribed, wish you and your family health and wealth!
Love this one, thanks for sharing! I've often pondered what approach others were taking to ticks and other bugs. Good to here the hens are working well on them!!
Great encouragement, . I used to love watching the flocks of barn swallows flying after bugs ,,in the afternoons while growing up on the family farm. Modern farm structures, don't allow for much swallow nesting. Keep the ideas fresh in peeps minds no chemicals
Lots of great information here! Thanks to the hummingbirds who come back year after year to Michigan’s UP, we are able to sit outside all summer. They have a voracious appetite and love mosquitoes
I am a Purple Martin host in the Ozarks, According to the PMCA only 2% of a Martins diet is Mosquitos. But thats ok i love my Martins. I also have chickens. In my critter areas i stay bug free but step out of my yard and get eat up by ticks and chiggers lol.
I loved it! Excellent reminder that birds and bats will keep you mosquito free. I didn't know about the guinea hens for combating ticks. Thank you for the good explanations and visuals.
One of my earlier comments didn’t seem to post. I wanted to add that purple Martin do not eat mosquitoes. Barn swallows might eat mosquitoes, but I know that purple martins do not. On occasion, PMs will eat some mosquitoes - especially the ones that get inside the cavities where they’re sitting on Eggs or spending the night. They will snatch them from inside of the compartments they occupy. But it’s not a significant amount to say that it’s their diet. When I watch purple Martins feeding the chicks, they are usually coming in with giant dragonflies .. and unfortunately dragonflies predominately eat mosquito larva. :(
What works wonders as a roll on is combination of catnip, lemongrass, lavender,clove, vetiver, patchouli and grapefruit seed extract. This is made in upstate NY called grillos essential. Love the bird houses and insect control! We have so many birdhouses and virtually no pest issues anymore. Such a great video and creative, love the free time comment lol. Your homestead is really looking good. 👍🌱
What I've heard works for ticks is to soak cotton balls in pyrethrin, (it's made from chrysanthamums), let it dry and stuff it in old toilet paper tubes. Put them in the yard in may and july. Mice take the cotton for their nests and it kills the ticks they carry. It's like putting flea/tick collars on the mice.
Hi this is craig. I just subscribed and liked . I seriously don’t know why YT recommended your channel to me ? Butt ,..!! I’m lovin’ everything!! You’re to the point,..informative,..and make me laugh 😂!! So ,..your in Canada 🍁,..I’m in Orlando Florida,.. I’m not sure if we even have purple martinis,..but I’ll LQQK it up ,.. I seriously can’t wait to see what else u come up with !! Thanks
Thanks a lot for speaking moistly on this subject. Not sure what we'll get down here in Central Massachusetts, but I'll start slapping up houses and we'll see what shows up. Hopefully the pattern gets full.
Wow! Everything you said was valuable information. I have bat houses and barn swallows, and I'm planning on getting Guinea hens when I set up a chicken coop later this year, but I didn't know they ate ticks. I remember my grandmother telling me they 'eat pests', but we never had ticks around the ranch so I grew up thinking ticks came in on dogs (which they did, but it never occurred to me to ask why the deer we killed were full of ticks but the horses never were.) Unfortunately I don't think we have Purple Martins here in Northern California. Pity, they are beautiful birds.
We no longer have purple Martins in Nova Scotia apparently. I’ve never seen one here in all the decades I lived here. Plenty of tree swallows which nest every year on my property. Nice birds, but very territorial. Not colonial like purple Martins but I still enjoy them every year. I usually have to place the boxes at least 100 feet apart. It’s a lot of work to maintain and monitor multiple boxes but I always breathe a sigh of relief when the young ones fledge. Thanks for the video man!
He is correct. I have many Purple Martin houses and NO Mosquitos. I have neighbors that get mosquitos on the same street and area where I live, but they do not have P. Martins. The neighbors that I have who also have P. Martin houses, also do NOT have mosquitos.
Hey there! I came here because I saw you on the Canadian Prepper, and I really enjoyed seeing your dog, the trees, the Sea Buckthorn, and all the ways you’ve thought of to keep your property safe and secure for your family. I didn’t know that you were funny too! Not to get you in trouble, but I laughed SO hard when you showed a quick image of the ‘other’ parasite besides the mosquito. I was dying all the way down here in Minnesota!👏🏽😆. This was a great video, I love birds, and seeing the swallow in your hand was amazing! Well done.🥇
We are living in an old barn, full of swallows. They poop on all my stuff, but no mosquitoes, no ticks. When the babies come, they get very aggressive, but are teachable. they are amazing flyers, way better than top gun
For many years I would take Garlic so tick don't dig in my skin and I've been doing it for close to 40 years and it works great. I wish I could get the dog eating it
A friend of ours just told us that his purple martins were the best all around bug control on his property here in WV. I like your innovative purple martin house... TY for sharing helpful info.
Awesome stuff. We have ticks galore in southern Indiana, surprisingly, not as many mosquitoes (it might be the heavy bird population doing the work already). Guinee Hens and Garlic, got it. I'm going to have to remember this for next spring. Thanks man.
I live here in central United States every time I mow hay I have barns swallows, and purple martins dive bombing my tractor from all the bugs . Even when I'm on my lawn mower in my yard they follow me around my yard. That's when the bluebirds jump in and help them. I have all kinds of beautiful birds around here because of my hay fields. I have a lot of grasshoppers and crickets. I do not use no herbicides or pesticides. The only problem with birds I have is the Baltimore Orioles keep trying to get into my hummingbird feeders. My sister has Baltimore Orioles at her house and she feeds them grape jelly they love it.
My first time seeing your channel, you've got a bunch of great videos, nice work. I'm a fellow prairie boy, just a bit further east, but not east enough that I need to speak moistly. The wife and I seen all the snow in your greenhouse video and said, he's either from Manitoba or Sask, I recognize that much snow. Anyway, keep up the great work!
I use citronella, but not the commercial refined versión made from lemongrass. I have the real thing, the citronella geranium variety, planted by the entrance of most doors. Effective repellent for keeping them out of the house.
The other thing to add are 'bee houses' for native pollinator bees. They won't take care of the biting insects directly but they will pollinate and increase habitate for other beneficial insects. Add a hawk roost and they will control squirrels, chipmunks, and woodchucks.
If he added a hawk roost one of two things will happen! Either the hawks will pick off the swallows and matins and any other small bird that might hang out at his house or the hawks will be aggressively ran off by the Purple Martins! Purple Martins are extremely territorial towards large birds like crows and most certainly hawks!
Outer banker here! We too love them and they roost in the thousands and thousands under one of the older bridges coming from mainland N.C. over to manteo nc
Great and timely video! I first saw a guy use purple martin nests back in the 70's and he had birds coming back year after year for as long as I was in the area, like 45 years or more. All awesome tips. I love the swallow nests on every pole. You must have the greatest wildlife presence in your yard. So awesome. Thanks for sharing! You can't do anything about the Grubberment! Moistly... 🙃
It’s a wildlife sanctuary around here. The surrounding farm land was just sprayed, cultivated, and seeded. My place is a green oasis this time of year especially. 🙏✌️
Swallows here in Oregon, love them. I am lucky enough to have chimney swallows move into my fireplace chimney. The flutter of their wings makes me happy and I can hear the babies when they hatch out. I don't use this fireplace but I could if I cleaned it every winter before use.
@Arkopia Love Canada, it is one of the best Countries in the World to live in. The Purple Martin is a great idea to control insects and I know someone who would love this idea, since they are really into birds.
I’m on the outer banks of N.C. and annually the martins roost under one of our old bridges as they have for multiple decades and decades since it was built. So cool to go under the bridge in a bit during their migration.
Tick fever/Lyme disease is no joke, it literally changed my life haven’t been the same since I got it 4yrs ago, great video, I just want to say if you are around ticks get bit and start feeling symptoms get to the Dr and get a tick panel ran, waiting is the worst thing you can do.
yup all that is the best way to go.. 20 years ago i recommended guineas to a guy that had property in tenn. He was not there all the time, so he built roosts up off the ground, some design from the seller. Anyway it took over 4 or 5 years till they settled in. He set up some feeders to sugment but they cleaned out the ticks and he seen them team up and kill a copperhead snake. The mosqquitos were a lot less too, but he nieghbor had bat houses all over so they probably took care of those.
Good bird houses. Some wire mesh stapled on at the bottom but loose at the top apparently deters cats because they don't like climbing on or over insecure footing/material
Looking forward to this as my dogs bring ticks home constantly. I catch most of them, but some still ho unnoticed in the thick undercoat. Respect to you and yours, best wishes from me over on Scotland brother.🙂👍
Your vet can provide meds that make the dog's blood toxic to ticks, kills them as soon as they latch on. The one I use to prevent heartworm now gets the ticks too. My Great Pyrenees has a very heavy coat, impossible to find ticks. By using these meds the only live ticks I ever see on her are the ones walking around on top of her fur trying to figure out how to get down to her skin. Wish there was something like that for humans.
@@Olgi41 caught a few of the sets of legs (pre-feed) ticks, on my malamutes, they get flea and tick drops but it must wear off quicker than stated, plus the ticks we need to worry about wear suits, and only have two legs.🤣
When we bought our house in North Texas, there was a huge martin house in the backyard. It's full of sparrows. I'd like to have it full of purple martins but our neighborhood has a feral cat problem, and I feel like low flying purple martins would get nabbed. Coincidentally, there's a brewery right down the road called Martin House. They have a bunch on the property.
You are one smart guy. Not only do you use the birds for pest extermination and visual entertainment, but you understand that politicians are the biggest pests of all. Keep the videos coming!
Oh my gosh I'm not even Canadian but I'm rolling on the floor laughing everytime you pop Trudeau on there saying "moistly". Thanks for the giggles today. And I appreciate your ideas because we suffer mosquitos here in east coast USA. I'm going to build a martin house today! But also, I eat at least a garlic clove and a medium onion every day, in different forms, and I do not get attacked by mosquitos like my neighbor who is allergic to them. So that's a form of protection even when you leave your own yard :) And garlic and onions ward off cancer and other dread diseases.
Excellent. Turn off that TV and watch those Purple Martins. It’s much better content. 😂🙏
@@ArkopiaUA-cam Great suggestion and better yet take them out of the house. Six yrs ago now and best move we've made was removing those boob tubes.
@@ArkopiaUA-cam
The problem is just ignoring politicians isn't going to prevent them from trying to find every single possible way to take advantage of your blood, sweat and tears.
We are getting very close to the government taking over our lives like stalin, mao and hitlar did in the past - those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Do you grow enough garlic and onions to keep that up? I’ve been having a terrible time growing onions. Thanks and God bless!
A bat roost must be pretty easy to create. As he demonstrated, a communal place to (literally) hang out with an easy way to get into it from below and no bottom so they can just fertilize the ground right under it.
You know what's great about bats? They speak in frequencies that are often not annoying to people.
Last spring a family of swallows built a nest under my carport. It was a mess. I would tear them down they would build another, I gave up but before the end of the year I noticed that I had no mosquito's and I usually get eaten even in my house. Amazing birds.
I have 12 swallow houses inhabited and the babies just took their maiden flight a couple days ago. The sky around our 50-acre farm (northern Maine) was dotted with swallows, all playing, chirping, and putting on quite an aerial acrobatics show. Not to be outdone, our barn swallow babies also made an appearance and added even more numbers and chaos (18,000 sq.ft. barn providing lots of space for them). They all come each year and entertain us, usually tree swallows first then barn swallows a week or two later. I love to sit out on the deck and just watch them. We even brush our dog and throw the shed fur out onto the lawn. The perpetual wind we have swirls the hair into the air and the swallows make a game of catching the tufts, flying around with them and using them for their nests.
We strategically placed the houses around our three 40' x 60' gardens, our fruit trees, and raised beds. There are two that were placed at the edge of the fields closer to the woods. One of those was stolen by a pair of blue birds who usually nest in our backyard in the woods, but tried something different this year. It's all good though, they eat a lot of bugs too and produced 4 babies. I'm hoping they'll have a second clutch this year. I love all of them and eagerly await their arrival each year.
I do contract services in northern Maine. I’ve seen a couple of properties like the one you just described. If you have contracted a service worker in the past two years I believe we have met. Cheers, those high bird population properties are outstanding
A+ information
Opossums eat millions of ticks daily. I love my bats and swallows. I had to sub because of your spot on humor 😂 Hello from the USA 😉
Waaay better than television 😂 that was hilarious and unexpected thanx
May God Bless and protect the Canadian people, and preserve your Freedoms! 🇺🇸💝🇨🇦Your friend and neighbor in Minnesota, USA🙏🏽💐
Oh I love your intro. For Halloween I once had a tick costume and I grabbed a tie and a binder labeled "Fees & Fines" then put dollar bills on the fangs.
People were so confused until I told them I was a money sucking politician.
very cute kids! thanx fior the video
Here in the states bird based charities recommend against the perch out in front of a bird house. The swallows at most need a tiny little nubbin but can usually land right in the hole. The perch becomes a place for magpies and jays to hold on while they raid the nest to eat chicks or eggs.
Edit: Also bats /can/ eat that many mosquitoes, but they don't. Mostly they eat moths, especially the larger bats that /can/ eat more bugs.
Good tips. I’ll do less of a perch on the next batch of houses. 🙏👍👍🏻
I’ve noticed the same… we have plenty of bats, but many more mosquitoes.
Out in the mountains in California you could sleep on the porch because the bats were so effective at mosquitoes... in Texas I wish we could own f15s because the mosquitoes this year are bad.... damn you bill gates
@@brettscott3759 Do you mean AR15s? I would think a shot gun would be more effective against mosquitos. :-)
@@brettscott3759 Mosquitos need standing water to breed in. California as very dry so that is the reason for a lack of mosquitos, not bats.
I hate to contradict you, but, I've been raising purple martins for 35 years and have been a member of the Purple Martin Conservation Association and an avid reader of their magazine monthly for decades. I'm also a bird rehabilitator. My colony is 64 breeding pairs, the most successful colony in the area. Purple Martins feed on flying insects during daylight hours. They do not feed at night. Mosquitos rapidly dehydrate in sunlight and must hide in deep dark vegetation during the daytime to prevent dehydration and death. They come out at night when Martins are inactive in their houses. The fact is there have been far more Martins eaten by mosquitos than mosquitos eaten by Martins. Mosquitos get into Martin houses at night and suck a blood meal out of baby Martins in the nests. When mosquito infestations are high, they can literally kill the Martin babies. The false fable that Martins eat mosquitos was started by a purple martin house manufacturer in Griggsville, Illinois back in the 60s and 70s. They sold a lot of Martin houses for sure, but Martins don't eat mosquitos, period.
Now, do you want to hear the sad part? The biggest killers of mosquitos are dragonflies! Nothing kills more mosquitos than dragonflies. Guess what the favorite food of Purple Martins is? You guessed it; dragonflies. In actual fact, the more Purple Martins you have, the more dragonflies they'll eat, and the more mosquitos you'll have. Again, the more Purple Martins you have, the more mosquitos you'll have. Sorry to be the bearer of such sad tidings. But check me out on everything I've said and you'll hear the same thing from the most prominent Purple Martin experts in this country.
If you want to kill mosquitos, put up bat houses. The more, the merrier. Bats feed on flying insects at night, just when the mosquitos are out and about. You'll kill mosquitos by the millions while reducing their populations so they don't kill your baby Martins. And if you know how to increase your local population of dragonflies, then you'll REALLY wreak havoc on the mosquito populations. Good luck and God speed!
Thank you for all that info. Yes, many folks are teaching me many things about martins I didn’t know. Only 2% of their diet is mosquitos, where as swallows and bats are much better. Thanks again.
How WOULD one encourage dragonflies without simultaneously encouraging mosquitoes?
So do dragonflies eat mosquitos at night? I see dragonflies in the day.
@@firstname-qq3xp Dragonflies eat mosquito larvae. Bats eat flying mosquitos at night. You can find more information by doing some research about mosquitos and about dragonflies.
I was sold on your first line..🤣
Awesome. Back in the 70s we used to have a giant purple Martin house. We used a 4 wheel drive truck to lever it up in the air. It had a hugh concrete footing on the end of a flagpole like pipe. What an undertaking to clean it yearly.. Let's just say it didn't always get the cleaning it should. And half the battle was keeping the sparrows out of it.
We used to raise Purple Martins on the Beach Strip in Hamilton in the 70's.
Then they never returned. Ever. They require the exact size hole for them to accept the nest.
Andrew. Victoria. BC.
Good info on pest control.
Good and old remedies, sometimes generally people forget this easy step our grandfather teach as when we are kids then with years and commodity they forget....but is good u post this video for don't forget again 😉 😀
Ticks rely on small warm blooded mammals as hosts and disease reservoir. Install a Barn Owl nest box. A nesting pair will consume more than 3,000 voles in a season. The Idaho Extension has a plan to build two Barn Owl nest boxes from one sheet of exterior plywood. Mount it 8 feet high. Make the opening oval, no more than 4 x 5 inches. Have the opening facing away from the winter wind.
Love it. I remember seeing something about owl housing. Good idea.
Thank you!
Great channel man. Ontario canada 🇨🇦 here. Homestead family. Getting ready for the worst economic depression in world history
Genius. Thanks for the great tips, I always wondered why those tiny birdhouses were so common around farmers fields. God bless.
Pest Control mentioned while showing Pierre trudeau's wife's son?
Based. Sub for that
I hate to disappoint you but purple martins eat very few if any mosquitoes. Their feeding style eliminates mosquitoes as a food item on their menu. Martins feed at altitude. Much higher than the maximum average altitude that mosquitoes fly. One of the martins favorite meals are dragonflies, which actually do eat mosquitoes. Dragonflies and bats are the best bet for mosquito control. I have provided housing for martins for about 30 years but unfortunately have never seen a mosquito reduction. But that isn’t why I love having them around for a few months. Their graceful flight antics and their song is the reason I have them. Thank you for providing housing for them.
Yes, I see a few comments now about that. Upon further looking into it, your info is correct. The martins only eat 2% mosquitos, and it is the swallows that doing the majority of mosquito control. And bats. Thanks for the info. ✌️
SW Ontario here. My father-in-law built purple martin houses 20+ yrs ago & put them up at our ditch. I love walking back there and watching them fly around
Smart!
Oh Canada! Really enjoyed the Trudeau montage! Your very relaxed, informative and have a humorous delivery… definitely subscribed, wish you and your family health and wealth!
Thank you. 🙏✌️
Love this one, thanks for sharing! I've often pondered what approach others were taking to ticks and other bugs. Good to here the hens are working well on them!!
new subscriber here, you got it all figured out!! thanks for sharing
Great encouragement, . I used to love watching the flocks of barn swallows flying after bugs ,,in the afternoons while growing up on the family farm. Modern farm structures, don't allow for much swallow nesting. Keep the ideas fresh in peeps minds no chemicals
Lots of great information here! Thanks to the hummingbirds who come back year after year to Michigan’s UP, we are able to sit outside all summer. They have a voracious appetite and love mosquitoes
I am a Purple Martin host in the Ozarks, According to the PMCA only 2% of a Martins diet is Mosquitos. But thats ok i love my Martins. I also have chickens. In my critter areas i stay bug free but step out of my yard and get eat up by ticks and chiggers lol.
First time seeing one of your videos. Very informative & comical😁😂. And yes, those little guys are just adorable. Glad to subscribe!
I’m out here in San Antonio Texas and the mosquitoes are terrible! And, that’s with no rain! Thank God for all of the birds around my yard!
I loved it! Excellent reminder that birds and bats will keep you mosquito free. I didn't know about the guinea hens for combating ticks. Thank you for the good explanations and visuals.
East coaster here! We found your channel and love what you are doing and accomplished!!
Great video. Note your birds in hand are Barn swallows. Thanks for promoting birds as natural pest control, more people need to get onboard!
Enjoyed that 👍
Great looking Purple Martins houses.
One of my earlier comments didn’t seem to post. I wanted to add that purple Martin do not eat mosquitoes. Barn swallows might eat mosquitoes, but I know that purple martins do not. On occasion, PMs will eat some mosquitoes - especially the ones that get inside the cavities where they’re sitting on Eggs or spending the night. They will snatch them from inside of the compartments they occupy. But it’s not a significant amount to say that it’s their diet.
When I watch purple Martins feeding the chicks, they are usually coming in with giant dragonflies .. and unfortunately dragonflies predominately eat mosquito larva. :(
Thanks very cool! We have bird feeders and yes I can watch our birds all day long …………they are the best entertainment!
What works wonders as a roll on is combination of catnip, lemongrass, lavender,clove, vetiver, patchouli and grapefruit seed extract. This is made in upstate NY called grillos essential. Love the bird houses and insect control! We have so many birdhouses and virtually no pest issues anymore. Such a great video and creative, love the free time comment lol. Your homestead is really looking good. 👍🌱
Very cool. And thanks; the homestead is coming right along. 🙏✌️
Healthy natural insect repellent that smells wholesome? I'll buy it.
Cool I love Ginny hens, I don’t really have ticks here in Tucson but we do have mosquitoes and we do have swallows flying around certain areas
What I've heard works for ticks is to soak cotton balls in pyrethrin, (it's made from chrysanthamums), let it dry and stuff it in old toilet paper tubes. Put them in the yard in may and july. Mice take the cotton for their nests and it kills the ticks they carry. It's like putting flea/tick collars on the mice.
Hi this is craig. I just subscribed and liked . I seriously don’t know why YT recommended your channel to me ? Butt ,..!! I’m lovin’ everything!! You’re to the point,..informative,..and make me laugh 😂!! So ,..your in Canada 🍁,..I’m in Orlando Florida,.. I’m not sure if we even have purple martinis,..but I’ll LQQK it up ,.. I seriously can’t wait to see what else u come up with !! Thanks
You’ve got purple martins there. I’m sure of it.
Thanks a lot for speaking moistly on this subject. Not sure what we'll get down here in Central Massachusetts, but I'll start slapping up houses and we'll see what shows up. Hopefully the pattern gets full.
Please make a video on how to build your cranking lowered purple Martin house.
Thank you.
Hi. Just subbed ya. The Justin shot.. 🙂
Wow! Everything you said was valuable information. I have bat houses and barn swallows, and I'm planning on getting Guinea hens when I set up a chicken coop later this year, but I didn't know they ate ticks. I remember my grandmother telling me they 'eat pests', but we never had ticks around the ranch so I grew up thinking ticks came in on dogs (which they did, but it never occurred to me to ask why the deer we killed were full of ticks but the horses never were.)
Unfortunately I don't think we have Purple Martins here in Northern California. Pity, they are beautiful birds.
I didn't think about birds, I've always thought dragonflies. This is great news, thank you!
Growing up my dad always had the martin houses up. Yes you must take care of them every year. Thanks for reminding me.
ThankQ 👍
just saw you on canadian preppers channel.You got me hooked.
Absolutely fascinating. Very well done.
We no longer have purple Martins in Nova Scotia apparently. I’ve never seen one here in all the decades I lived here. Plenty of tree swallows which nest every year on my property. Nice birds, but very territorial. Not colonial like purple Martins but I still enjoy them every year. I usually have to place the boxes at least 100 feet apart. It’s a lot of work to maintain and monitor multiple boxes but I always breathe a sigh of relief when the young ones fledge. Thanks for the video man!
Lolol 5 seconds in. Subscribed.
He is correct. I have many Purple Martin houses and NO Mosquitos. I have neighbors that get mosquitos on the same street and area where I live, but they do not have P. Martins. The neighbors that I have who also have P. Martin houses, also do NOT have mosquitos.
You just elevated the natural habitat and resources for pest resistance and control to an art form. 👍🕊️😏
Dragonflies are amazing bug controllers too .
Dragonflies are also awesome
lol Free Time. I hear you but satisfaction from the work is so worth it.
Hey there! I came here because I saw you on the Canadian Prepper, and I really enjoyed seeing your dog, the trees, the Sea Buckthorn, and all the ways you’ve thought of to keep your property safe and secure for your family. I didn’t know that you were funny too! Not to get you in trouble, but I laughed SO hard when you showed a quick image of the ‘other’ parasite besides the mosquito. I was dying all the way down here in Minnesota!👏🏽😆. This was a great video, I love birds, and seeing the swallow in your hand was amazing! Well done.🥇
Interesting info, thanks.
I like how you work with nature
We love our purple Martins.
We are living in an old barn, full of swallows. They poop on all my stuff, but no mosquitoes, no ticks. When the babies come, they get very aggressive, but are teachable. they are amazing flyers, way better than top gun
For many years I would take Garlic so tick don't dig in my skin and I've been doing it for close to 40 years and it works great. I wish I could get the dog eating it
A friend of ours just told us that his purple martins were the best all around bug control on his property here in WV. I like your innovative purple martin house... TY for sharing helpful info.
injoy your movie i live 45 miles south of macon Ga have purple martin for 12 year
Awesome stuff. We have ticks galore in southern Indiana, surprisingly, not as many mosquitoes (it might be the heavy bird population doing the work already). Guinee Hens and Garlic, got it. I'm going to have to remember this for next spring. Thanks man.
I live here in central United States every time I mow hay I have barns swallows, and purple martins dive bombing my tractor from all the bugs . Even when I'm on my lawn mower in my yard they follow me around my yard. That's when the bluebirds jump in and help them. I have all kinds of beautiful birds around here because of my hay fields. I have a lot of grasshoppers and crickets. I do not use no herbicides or pesticides. The only problem with birds I have is the Baltimore Orioles keep trying to get into my hummingbird feeders. My sister has Baltimore Orioles at her house and she feeds them grape jelly they love it.
Awesome 🙏✌️
My first time seeing your channel, you've got a bunch of great videos, nice work. I'm a fellow prairie boy, just a bit further east, but not east enough that I need to speak moistly. The wife and I seen all the snow in your greenhouse video and said, he's either from Manitoba or Sask, I recognize that much snow. Anyway, keep up the great work!
Yeah, pest control. I'm working on developing giant purple martins. Desperately needed.
We love love Guinea hens.
dude, I just this minute found you and I already like what you have to say...and that your g-kids love you. thank you for this.
I use citronella, but not the commercial refined versión made from lemongrass.
I have the real thing, the citronella geranium variety, planted by the entrance of most doors. Effective repellent for keeping them out of the house.
Very cool. 👍👍
We have a half acre of hard neck. Music garlic. 200 asparagus crowns. 200 fruit trees
We call our guinnies "noisey chickens" and they are awesome predator alarms as well
That they are. 😂
The other thing to add are 'bee houses' for native pollinator bees. They won't take care of the biting insects directly but they will pollinate and increase habitate for other beneficial insects. Add a hawk roost and they will control squirrels, chipmunks, and woodchucks.
If he added a hawk roost one of two things will happen! Either the hawks will pick off the swallows and matins and any other small bird that might hang out at his house or the hawks will be aggressively ran off by the Purple Martins! Purple Martins are extremely territorial towards large birds like crows and most certainly hawks!
Hawks would go after the guinea fowl.
@@q-man762 A hawk will go after what ever is easier to catch. They're not picky when it comes to fresh meat!
I have been a purple Martin landlord for at least 20 years. We love them in eastern Virginia!❤️
Outer banker here! We too love them and they roost in the thousands and thousands under one of the older bridges coming from mainland N.C. over to manteo nc
Great and timely video! I first saw a guy use purple martin nests back in the 70's and he had birds coming back year after year for as long as I was in the area, like 45 years or more. All awesome tips. I love the swallow nests on every pole. You must have the greatest wildlife presence in your yard. So awesome. Thanks for sharing!
You can't do anything about the Grubberment! Moistly... 🙃
It’s a wildlife sanctuary around here. The surrounding farm land was just sprayed, cultivated, and seeded. My place is a green oasis this time of year especially. 🙏✌️
Thanks for a great bit of information.
Awesome
loving the humor
Thanks for the guinea hens info. I have 9 2month olds right now in my chickshaw. I left the door open and they won't come out...
I have barn swallows, but I could use a few gunnies.
The intro was a good laugh :)
Yes!!! Thank you. Working on all of this right now. Just hatched some guinea fowl this week to tackle the ticks.
Would love to see the plan's for the Martin house you can raise and lower. Great video!
Wow that's just incredible information i thank you very much
We had tree swallows move onto our property this year. They are amazing! Love their colors, their chirps, and the way they soar.
Put some swallow boxes up and they will return every year. They may even without the boxes.
We put a box up just in time and they have hatched babies already. I'm.so glad to know they will keep returning.
Swallows here in Oregon, love them. I am lucky enough to have chimney swallows move into my fireplace chimney. The flutter of their wings makes me happy and I can hear the babies when they hatch out. I don't use this fireplace but I could if I cleaned it every winter before use.
Huge thumbs up for your intro 👏🏽🕺🏽👏🏽
@Arkopia Love Canada, it is one of the best Countries in the World to live in. The Purple Martin is a great idea to control insects and I know someone who would love this idea, since they are really into birds.
Awesome!
I’m on the outer banks of N.C. and annually the martins roost under one of our old bridges as they have for multiple decades and decades since it was built. So cool to go under the bridge in a bit during their migration.
Tick fever/Lyme disease is no joke, it literally changed my life haven’t been the same since I got it 4yrs ago, great video, I just want to say if you are around ticks get bit and start feeling symptoms get to the Dr and get a tick panel ran, waiting is the worst thing you can do.
Can you eat meat?
@@Just.A.T-Rex yes I didn’t get the red meat deal but I’ve got terrible joint problems and it spurred on a autoimmune disease.
yup all that is the best way to go.. 20 years ago i recommended guineas to a guy that had property in tenn. He was not there all the time, so he built roosts up off the ground, some design from the seller. Anyway it took over 4 or 5 years till they settled in. He set up some feeders to sugment but they cleaned out the ticks and he seen them team up and kill a copperhead snake. The mosqquitos were a lot less too, but he nieghbor had bat houses all over so they probably took care of those.
Good bird houses.
Some wire mesh stapled on at the bottom but loose at the top apparently deters cats because they don't like climbing on or over insecure footing/material
Looking forward to this as my dogs bring ticks home constantly.
I catch most of them, but some still ho unnoticed in the thick undercoat.
Respect to you and yours, best wishes from me over on Scotland brother.🙂👍
Many thanks for the tips... bird boxes coming right up.😎👍 take care.
Your vet can provide meds that make the dog's blood toxic to ticks, kills them as soon as they latch on. The one I use to prevent heartworm now gets the ticks too. My Great Pyrenees has a very heavy coat, impossible to find ticks. By using these meds the only live ticks I ever see on her are the ones walking around on top of her fur trying to figure out how to get down to her skin. Wish there was something like that for humans.
@@Olgi41 caught a few of the sets of legs (pre-feed) ticks, on my malamutes, they get flea and tick drops but it must wear off quicker than stated, plus the ticks we need to worry about wear suits, and only have two legs.🤣
love your channel thanks CP for bringing me on to the Ark, but i gotta say theres lots of ticks and mosquitoes in BC lol who told you there wasnt?
Thanks. I guess my only experience with BC is close to the coast and on the island. It’s so weird that there are zero mosquitoes or ticks. 🙏✌️
Thankyou cp and Thankyou arkopidia
I ❤️ how you use natural solution for pest problem 👍 i will subscribe
Thanks for the video. I'm going to try putting up bird houses on my new property. Too many mosquitoes here in Alaska
When we bought our house in North Texas, there was a huge martin house in the backyard. It's full of sparrows. I'd like to have it full of purple martins but our neighborhood has a feral cat problem, and I feel like low flying purple martins would get nabbed. Coincidentally, there's a brewery right down the road called Martin House. They have a bunch on the property.