Nesting Material

I usually put out some dogs hair in a fat ball feeder when I cut Brambles hair. (Don't tell her it's nearly time though)

Sarah

my chickens will be providing free nesting materials.... ,also ,ive  watched to my amusement sparrows pulling hair of my mates german shepards  back... so answer to your question not alot but its fun watching them collecting feathers ....

I was just going to star a thread on this!

Just a question - is wool good for them? Wool as in, knitting wool chopped short. Some books suggest this but is it safe for the birds, when it's like, a manmade material?

Hi Tern,

Not sure about the answer to your wool question - I have thought about this also. 

Pure wool yarn should be OK, and many artificial yarns are cellulose based and so presumably are OK too but some yarns are chemically produced.  I think it would take a bit of background work to out what any individual yarn was composed of, or, if chemically manufactured would have a detrimental effect on nests,nesting or the environment.

ClaireM

I've been told that human hair is a good idea, is it?

Hi cni. What an interesting thread and so much dog hair! My birds have been nestling in spare bits of my friends german shepherd for a few years now. My own dog is a whippet x so he doesn't have much to spare! My birds seem to prefer german shepherd to labrador hair, has anyone else noticed preferences like this? Best wishes Ness.

When I pluck the winter coat of the rabbits the birds can use that, Mum used to do this when I was wee with the dog hair, a wee bit hay when I'm sorting the rabbits will be left in the spring.

Fluff from the tumble drier was mentioned in another thread,so have started doing saving that for the birds.

 The birds collect wool form the sheep in front + there is plenty caught in the hawthorn trees!!

I would imagine that human hair would be good I put ours in the wormery but it often goes through the process twice. Might leave some for the birds as well!!

When I cut back the ornamental grasses some are v long I pop these in the hedge + the sparrows love to pick this up. Also leave lots of the dead honeysuckle clematis etc for the birds to use. Nearly finished cutting all the hedges today sothe birds can decide where they fancy building!! Oh so exciting!!

Hi CNI

I think we had a similar thread last week

Another alternative was tumble dryer fluff, but mine wasn't taken last year.

I would suggest that you steer clear of sheep wool, I have come across several nesting  birds with this material wrapped around their legs. This could in my view tighten around the legs causing the circulation to cut off and the leg to die.

Regards Richard