Make an Angel Nest at Home
All Natural Materials
Since these nests will be in contact with baby birds, it is important all the materials are 100% natural and not treated with any chemicals or coloring. You can find all the materials right in your neighborhood (it is what the birds do when making their nests!) but there are some other materials you may want to look for in your area.
What Materials Work Best
Nests are generally made of a hard outer frame, such as sticks and pine needles and lined with a softer insulating material such as leaves, animal fur or hair and grasses. The best nests retain heat while not decomposing.
Here is a list of the materials we used, but you may find better substitutes in your area.
Straight Hardwood Twigs - In the fall, we went to areas where there were a lot of birch shrubs (they are used a lot in the communities where we are) and asked homeowners if we could trim off the ends of their shrubs. This is commonly done in the fall and the branches are just thrown away.
Spanish Moss - While Spanish Moss is not native to our area, one of our team members had a relative who lived in South Carolina where they are common. We asked her to collect some for us and she bagged a bunch that had fallen after a storm. She brought it to the team mate over the winter holidays.
Coconut Shell Fibers - This material is great for nests as it does not rot, retains heat and does not absorb water. We got the material from from leftover natural coconut fiber mats you find at garden stores. To break it down into fiber strings, you wash it in hot water and slowly pull it apart.
Chopped Feed Hay - We obtained a large bail of chopped feed hay from a farmers market after they finished their Halloween festival. You can find this dried hay at any farm.
Llama Fur - We visited a llama rescue farm nearby. They had over 20 llamas rescued from farms which could not take care of them or from illegal importing. Llama fur is perfect for nests are it is very warm and water repellent and is not chemically treated while on a llama. Llama fur, unlike Alpaca fur, is not used for weaving and is generally sold cheaply for pillow stuffing or similar. The farm was more than happy to supply us with a large amount of fur from their fall trimmings.
Natural Twine or Fibers - One thing we had to purchase was the twine needed to tie everything together. We got two types of twine, both 100% natural. One was a garden twine which we used to tie together the sticks to make the frame as well as to tie together materials to hang off the sticks. The second was a larger coconut weaved rope which we had leftover from a garden. We broke down the rope into coconut strands and used it to tie together the nesting materials to the sticks. We also used the full rope to hang off materials when we ran out of twigs.
Pine Strands and Cat Tails - We collected a number of pine bunches from trees at the nearby community college campus. The campus also had a pond with a lot of cat tails growing. We got permission to cut down the cat tails and saved them to hang from the ropes.
Putting it all together
To start, we cut up the ropes/twine into the right lengths. We made all the lengths the same.
Then, we took all the materials we had and put a handful into plastic sandwich baggies in order to make assembly a lot easier. We knew we would be partnering with the local community college's art club to help assemble and disperse the Angel Nests, so we wanted there to be an easy way to make the 80+ Nests.
After all the materials were sorted into bags, the next step is to take a few twigs for the top frame and some for the bottom frame. They were connected using the twine. A piece of twine was tied to the center of the top of the frame (this is what is tied to the tree when it is hung).
With this frame, we took two bags of the hay and tied the twine piece around each one to make a bundle. The other end of the twine was tied to one of the two frame branches.
We then did the same with two llama fur bundles and a coconut or spanish moss bundle.
Finally, we tied a strand of pine needles or a cat tail to the twine and attached it on the bottom frame.
Alternatively, we also took a long piece of the coconut rope and tied all the materials from it so they hung down from the rope. This could be hung vertically with twine at the top or horizontally with twine on both ends.
What do you do with the finished nest?
The finished Angel Nests can be hung anywhere outside. It is best to hang from a tree or a deck rail or somewhere it is somewhat protected from the rain. It should be a few feet off the ground to keep insects off of it as well.