is hay okay to use as nesting mateial???

[Misso]

i was surfing the net, and i was on this website called finch information center,

there was a page for gouldians and it said: Never use nest hair, wood chips, hay, or synthetic threads like yarn for nesting material.

i agreed with everything bar Hay, i thought hay was okay for finches??? iv only used swamp grass in my nest boxes, but just last month i brought a bag of pet hay which most stock feeds sell. i planned on putting a base of hay down in the nest box then finish the nest with swamp grass. does anyone on here use hay??? the pet hay i have has lots of dried grasses in it.

im interested to know if its good or not.

Jarryd

[Mickp]

have used it and had no problems, does that site say why not to use it

[gomer]

Oils aint oils Sol.

The same applies to hay.It depends on the grass it was cut from.Some hay bales have alot of thick stemmed grass which is too thick as nesting material,Much of it seems to be not to soft or pliable.While other paddocks when mowed may have too much short unsuitable grass in it.I have also seen some bales almost mouldy inside as they sweat in the stack somtimes.Maybe the Authur is refering to these issues,Why not to use hay?

I have used hay many years ago and had to tease it out to get some suitible stuff.And only would use it as a last resort, as with my experiance find that more is not suitible than is.You may find the hay down your way is a different grass than here.

[Pete Sara]

gommer is correct with the mould issue. straw bales have a tendancy to build up mould, if you can get fresh oaten hay before it goes mouldie while it is still green it could be a go before it looses all its flex. but if you can find a supplier of good meadow hay which is much finer than most hays that would be the go. over the week i went for a trip to the south west and along the way i was soarceing the best places for grasses for nest material, i have found a fair few places , will be visiting a friend in a few weeks who lives on a farm to see what i can get from him as i seem to go through a bit myself these days , plus anything to keep the cost down.also with the issue of grasses the other reason i need the advice from my friend is that the ag dept over here told farmers to grow a type of grass for the live stock that is much better on the enviornment in the form of less fertilizers and water ect, it has a down side it basically has to be composted inside of plasitic to help kill a toxin that can kill your live stock, hence why i need to find out the type of grass it is , if it can kill a sheep i am sure it could kill a few birds, so go with the meadow hay if you have to......pete

[Diane]

I have two straw tubes with the straw packed in tight, I made some holes in the straw and lined them out with swamp grass, stuck some branches through the whole thing and the birds seem to think they are ok.
The canary has nested in the top of one currently raising four babies, and the goldbreasts have just started laying in one of the spaces there too (4 eggs so far). The ruddies are in and out of the other tube so I dont think it will long before they start nesting again.

[E Orix]

Grass Hay
I doubt if I have had any problems using bailed Grass Hay in the past. These days I have access to plenty of Swamp grass and also the Grass Hay is picked up after the council slash the edges of the H/Way here.
Even though Swamp Grass is highly desired by the finches they still need some of the heavier grasses.
As for using musty seed or nesting material this is a total NO NO.Quality feed and conditions equate to healthy birds and better breeding results.
It has been mentioned to use wire tubes to assist with nest sites. This is a great method,I use them and they are 1200mm(4ft)x 600mm(2ft) which actually equates to a brushed section 4ftx6ft in area when you concider the surface area. Numerous times I have had inexcess of 6 pairs of birds happily rearing chics in the same tube.

[Misso]

thanks for the replies everyone, yeh the main idea for me was to use the hay as the base for my nest boxes so i dont waste my swamp grass, i thought it would be fine, the hay looks nice and clean, iv got it outside in my bird shed drying out.

Jarryd

[jusdeb]

Ive used to as bedding for other critters and must say when it goes off its awful . The mould spores travel on the air and often you can only smell them as they can be too small to see.
Not good around humans so I wouldnt use it around the little lunged critters , better safe than sorry I reckon .
If the swamp grass is too costly cut it down with some coco fibres like they use to pot plants , its cheap and the birds dont mind it all.

[fincher]

if tour looken for other sorts of nesting material and can find couch grass my gouldians love it.you can use meadow hay but thats the only sort of hay i would use for material most others are to thick nd not easily bendable.

thanks chris

[Misso]

This is the hay in question, its not so much straw hay, which is bigger and ruffer, this stuff is more lighter grass cuts, im sure it would be alright, iv taken it out of the bag to dry really well.

SM-PH01.jpg

iv also cut down all my Panic Veldt grass that i grow in my pots, to promote more growth, so iv dried those out as well,

Jarryd