leave old nesting material or to remove it, a choice
It seems obvious enough that the house "should be" cleaned out but there's an ongoing debate on whether or not it's a good idea to leave old nesting material in nest compartments or to remove it. If you leave the old nests in the box then you can't clean it. It's interesting to think about because if you want to have martins come back every year you want to provide good martin housing, right? And good housing is clean housing in my thinking. Well, some say martins feel more comfortable coming back to their old nests and that it creates less work for them because they don't have to build a new nest. And it's also suggested that because the house looks "lived-in" that the martins will be more likely to find it attractive and stay. Others say that martins don't mind building a new nest every year and that it has no impact on how a martin is attracted to the house and whether or not it stays. Who is right? What should you do? It's debate that doesn't have a "solid answer" and for the most part never will because martins can't tell us what they want.
They can however "show" us what they want if we take the time to watch them carefully. I believe they show us in tiny ways that clean and empty housing is what they would like. If you watch a martin couple closely they get right after a clean nest box, one that's empty. I think they have less to look at and less to fear if a compartment is empty. Key word here is fear. If there's an old nest in a box you'll see they spend a lot more time "inspecting" the box, which tells me they have a question for their safety. If the martin couple has a question for safety then "anything" in the nest box at the start of the season should be removed in my opinion. This eliminates making the martin couple nervous and creates a happier environment for them. Besides, building a new nest each year is part of the couples mating process and should be encouraged, not discouraged. Overall, I think it's safe to say martin couples feel more comfortable coming back to empty nest compartments and they don't like the "lived-in" look.
To reinforce this idea of clean housing and empty nest boxes think about what happens when the martins return to the colony at the beginning of the season. They're trying to find a mate and dealing with all kinds of social issues. They're not concerned about what's in the colonies' nest boxes because they are in the "mating mode" and trying to establish their social pecking order with other martins new to the colony. Until they couple and start looking at specific nest boxes the nest boxes have little value other than being a part of the "coupling ritual". Males use the nest box to dart in and out of, trying to convince the female it's a good place to live, trying to attract the female to himself. He's not actually picking out the nicest nest compartment with the best features and selling this to the female. He's just making a case for the idea he has found a place to stay. As if to say, "I can be a good provider" because I have a place to build a nest, I have a house! The female really doesn't care at this point but entertains the male by flying over for quick visits and peeks of the chosen compartment. The male then flies over to another compartment and the game repeats. Over days and weeks females and males switch around and compete for each other and for different compartments. Somewhere along the way the female and male finally get serious, couple and pick out their compartment. They move on in the process and leave the dating rituals to find a nest compartment they can call home. This is the time where the nest compartment actually develops value or potential for a home because the male and female are acting and working as a "couple". They need to build a nest together, they need to bond in this way and it's the reason a couple builds a new nest every season, it's part of the natural process. You don't skip this part of the process or try to lesson the workload because you would decrease the bonding time. And, I don't think you can attach the "lazy" attribute we humans have to a martin so the argument of leaving the old nest to create less work is a loose one in my opinion.
No matter what, the martins are going to build in a clean box or on top of an old nest because it's the only choices they have. Why not eliminate the fear factor and clean out the old nest material, it seems to be the "best choice". I don't think there's a right or wrong but, I will say cleaning out the old nest material should make the martins more comfortable while they're trying to partner up to raise a family and it will help your colony grow and keep your martins much more happy.
