nesting material?

[seb_seb]

who?what?when?where?....ive never provided nesting material but have been told its quite beneficial.

[IanF]

Hi Seb_Seb,

Artificial nesting material comes in various forms from pet hair to more commonly a cotton wool type material.

We use the latter which we purchase from Jacobi Jayne (http://www.birdcare.com/birdon/wbn/) the only UK supplier I have come across. Basically it's a big ball of cotton wool in a string sack. A pack of cotton wool from one of the discount pharmacists would probably work just as well. I'd certainly advocate getting some as our Blue Tits built a very snug looking nest in our camera monitored nest box last year and only took a few days instead of weeks to complete it. They likely used on a fraction of the energy too and managed to raise ten chicks. Other birds, even Goldfinches made use of the nest sack too.

I've even heard of people using the saved up cotton wadding from old pill bottles, not that they are as common as they used to be. Likewise cut up lengths of knitting wool if you know of anyone who knits.

[seb_seb]

very helpful ian..but when and where should i put it?

[seb_seb]

and also did a search and this seems to be a british site that sells nesting material :
http://www.shopcreator.com/mall/Haiths/products/product-129293.stm

[IanF]

Sorry about that - put it out any time now for the early nesters, but certainly by the first week of April.

As to where, just anywhere prominent such as hanging off a garden fence post. A hanging basket bracket, garden feeders or just pull cotton peices off the ball and dangle from shrubs in the garden. The birds will find them don't worry !

Personally I have the bag dangling from the garden feeders. It's amusing watching them get a mouthful of cotton, land on the feeder proper pinning the cotton with a foot and getting something to eat and then flying off with cotton in mouth - tiny things for tiny minds !

Well done on finding the Haiths link. They are a decent firm. I used to use them for the seed supplies before finding a cheaper source. I stuck with Jacobi Jaynes this year round after last year's being such a resounding success. Haiths seems to cater very well for bird breeders so their nesting material should be okay I guess.

[LMG]

I always put out pet hair for the birds. When I brush my dogs and horses I get loads - the birds love it. Most of my nests are lined with it. They prefer white hair to brown or black! You need to put it out now, as many birds are nesting. I've also had birds raiding my emptied hoover bag! They also like to use feathers, especially small white ones. They also use hay, straw, string, wet mud and of course moss. There's always plenty about the farm! I love watching the birds collecting it. I also have a camera in one of my boxes and it's fascinating watching them build the nest.

[Dave Smith]

My wife actually trusts me to cut her hair. The cuttings when put on the lawn disappear rapidly - usually taken by house sparrows.

[seb_seb]

i put some cotton/rabbit hair out and the great tits have been taken it like crazy..but unfortunately not to my netboxes. Thanks for the advice everyone.:)

[winkle]

Feathers are are popular.

[Dianne]

I usually put out a variety of stuff: cotton, string, animal hair and human hair. They seem to like the hair the best.

Funny story regarding human hair: one day I was sitting out on the balcony next to the nesting material and a Titmouse landed on my head and started pulling my hair out! It was a weird sensation having him walking all over my head, plucking hair out. I was laughing so hard, and trying to stay still at the same time.
He came back the next day and did it again!! :)

[paula]

That is a wonderful story about the Titmouse collecting your hair from your head and coming back the next day.
I put out nesting material for the first time and am pleased to report that it is collected by the Blue tits, so far. Waiting for other species to show an interest in the stuff.
I bought the ready-made material from Jacobi Jayne see IanF's link to them.

[Andrew]

We have Pampas Grass and the sparrows take the tufts of white fluffy bits off the tall blooms in Spring. Often they get blown over so we collect the important bits and tie them to the washing line post.

[IanF]

I was watching Blue Tits and Wrens collecting the fluffy tufts from blown heads of Bull Rushes the other day at my local pond. The birds collect the fluufy heads off our Clematis and my neighbours Pampas Grass too.

[Andrew]

There are more nests than I thought in our garden. A House Sparrow came out of the eaves of a house below our garden with some fibreglass loft insulation and disappeared down one of our fir trees!