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Feeding raisins or sultanas


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Hi guys,

 

This isn't very orthodox, but does anyone ever scatter raisins or sultanas in their drives to entice the birds in and hold them? I know poachers used to use them but is it worth scattering any one our straw feeding areas? Heard of a keeper not too far away swearing by feeding them. Any opinions or experiences out there?

 

Henry

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I know a keeper that used to feed raisins, had to be chocolate coated though. He also reckoned that pheasants loved Brazil nuts, he always found his birds under the trees scratching about after them.

Oh god the raisin stories get even more unorthodox! Chocolate coated?!? I'd love to see a pheasant attempting to eat a Brazil nut. My budget won't stretch that far though. I'll see if my budget sultanas do anything then report back!
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I can only imagine the pheasants eating and filling up on the raisins then wandering off to look for more of the tasty treats? Not sure our budget can stretch to 200 weight of raisins, but I bet they would love them.

My budget stretches to a kg from aldi! Think I'll be sticking to my wheat and maize

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If you want to feed something different, I buy the big sacks of wildbird feed. It has wheat, sunflower seeds, chopped peanuts, millet, peas and all sorts of other seed. I figure that the smaller seeds will keep them busy on the straw, and the peanut and sunflower seeds will provide the protein to keep them coming back

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The only way I've seen raisins work is when poachers have soaked the raisins in brandy and then scattered them in the evening.

The phesants then eat them, go up to roost a little worse for wear and fall out of the tree and break their necks. The old poachers could then walk round the woods and pick the birds up.

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Another way of using raisins was to punch holes into snow banks with a bottle and put a trail of raisins in to the hole birds will eat into the hole but can't get back out, just pull them out like corks out of a bottle.

 

Also use peanuts as ear defenders, coat the nut in chocolate to make the seal and pop them in to you lug holes, when finished after shooting, just remove them, they come out a treat!

 

B.

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Not sure about the effectiveness of raisins holding pheasants, but it's said they can be fatal to dogs - even if eaten in relatively small numbers. Apparently it causes acute renal failure. I'd be careful about scattering them around in areas they could be picked up by a canine friend.

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We get a lot of raisins and Xmas cake from a big bakery. All the stuff they can't use in the cakes plus the off cuts.

We feed that onto straw and it does seem to work very well as the birds scratch round for hours.

 

As previously stated keep dogs away as my mates lab ate a couple of raisins and got a bad case of the slops

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