Wrap the produce bag tightly around the nesting materials–this brings all the materials to the mesh, so that the birds can easily pick and choose–and secure it shut with a rubber band, or, if using that plastic bag has been killing you so far, go ahead and treat yourself by tying it off with a nice piece of twine or yarn, instead.
Notice that my girls have filled one bag with natural materials, such as grass, wool fleece, cornhusks leftover from our corn husk dolls, human hair, cat fur, and small twigs. Their other bag is filled with man-made items, such as polyester batting, thread, yarn, strips from plastic bags, beading wire, and dental floss. Can you guess what their science experiment is?
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This is a great idea, but I’ve read that birds can get their beaks caught in mesh like this. The community farm near to where I live puts out bundles of nesting materials that are just tied together, obviously this means you canot use the smallest pieces of material, but it does work!
Great concept, but I cringed when I saw you are using plastic netting. I could see birds or other small animals getting caught in these – we were taught to cut up anything with stretchy plastic rings or netting so animals wouldn’t get injured by them. It also seems a little odd to suggest putting plastic into the environment & not try to reuse it yourself or recycle it at a center. This idea could still be done with bits of things that can pull apart and are more earth friendly.
Wow! This is fantastic! I’d love to do an entire featured post on you and your blog! If you are interested you can find out how to do so here:
http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/2011/03/want-to-be-featured-on-my-delicious.html
I’d love for you to link up some of your other great ideas to my Tot Tuesday linky party. Have a great day!
This is all great stuff. I think the mesh bags are fine to use. We use them in the UK for lots of different bird foods and never had a problem with birds getting trapped before. Plus recycling these mesh bags is a good idea (we cant recycle here).
thank you for the ideas and inspiration!