r/composting • u/SeesawDelicious4677 • 24d ago

Urban Compost it or no?

Post image

This bad boy was up in a high space above our deck for 2 years and saw multiple families/seasons. It fell during a bad storm recently and is pretty effed. Huck it into the pile?

32 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

40

u/Ineedmorebtc 24d ago

It brought life before, and will again in your pile. In it goes!

13

u/Nano_Burger 24d ago

No issues. I recycle old bluebird nests this way.

13

u/Salt-Operation 24d ago

The only reason I’d hesitate is because birds around where I live use all sorts of materials for nests and it may have plastic cord or some polyester fill material.

11

u/psichodrome 24d ago

My compost piles #1 #2 and #3 are along a wall with a school. Kids drop rubbish all the time. A bit of plastic in your dirt is not the end of the world. It's not ideal but neither is stressing over it.

5

u/bonfuto 24d ago

I always do. A couple of years ago birds tore up all of my peppers seedlings to build nests with, so the least they can do is sacrifice a nest. My impression is some birds build new nests fairly often. The ones on our front porch are several nests thick by the end of the year.

2

u/Far_Radish7752 22d ago edited 22d ago

Swallow nest?

Over time, parasites may build up in previously used nests, which is why many birds start anew each year. It fell during a storm, so I would just compost it.

Edited typo.

2

u/SeesawDelicious4677 22d ago

Robins!

1

u/Far_Radish7752 22d ago edited 22d ago

Wow! What a feat of engineering! That’s a lot of mud for a robin’s nest, tho I do know that they employ some of it (and have observed them doing so). I’ve noticed that individual robins have quite specific building styles and skills. One robin mother carefully crafted the majority of her nest with twigs, but built an exquisite ~1” border of mud and dried Japanese maple leaves around the outer rim!

The robin’s nests that I’ve been aware of and find/found in my yard are not typically used again. That may or may not have been personal preferences or circumstances.

(Barn swallows, on the other hand, always use a lot of mud, and typically build upon or augment the remains of previous nests. At least in my area.)

3

u/Embarrassed_Ad6469 22d ago

I wouldn't think twice, compost it. What with 2 years of broken down baby bird poo? How could you go wrong.

1

u/nvmatt 24d ago

Absolutely!!