Subject: cedar nestboxes
Date: Mar 19 22:04:53 2001
From: Hill - hill at cbnn.net


I received information that kestrel boxes should not use cedar shavings. When prey is dropped into the shavings, the young birds ingest the cedar, and apparently it has some toxic qualities when ingested. For species that are fed directly by the parent, or precocial/nidifuge types such as wood ducks it is not a problem.

Randy Hill
Othello

----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Li
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 6:55 PM
Subject: re: cedar nestboxes


I use cedar for my purple martin boxes, and also might add cedar shavings to try to reduce insect parasites; I'm not aware of any problems. The late Jack Davis recommended the addition of the cedar shavings, and he certainly did well with his colonies in the south sound. I've participated in nest box prep at major martin colonies such as Woodard Bay, and we always have added fresh cedar shavings after cleaning out the old material. I wouldn't say that the cedar is essential, but it's certainly not a problem in my opinion. In the past couple of weeks I've put up about 20 cedar purple martin boxes.

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA
kdli at msn.com