how safe are pigeons to eat?

[dave33]

A lot of newly drilled/planted seed has a red coating - I asked the local farmer what this is apparently it is a mercury based substance designed to act as an insecticide. Presumably if a pigeons gorges on a large quantity of this their meat will also contain a lot of mercury. Has anyone got any info? Or comments on this?

 

Thanks,

 

Davehttp://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/style_images/1/icon8.gif

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/sty...ges/1/icon8.gif

[pavman]

dave, good spot mate

 

lets hope the insecticide only kills insects and not birds, I thought mercury was a heavy liquid metal (silver grey) and very expensive???

 

come on guys let us know what it is

[Nildes]

I very much doubt if it is Mercury based.

All domestic and farm chemicals in the UK have to pass fairly stringent and exhaustive testing to prove that they are safe to use. In the past, heavy metal based chemicals like copper and mercury were more common. Now they are quite rare and even really useful chemicals I considered fairly ok have been withdrawn too. Try getting Renardine or Creosote now!

It may be that the dressing contains a fungicide and an insecticide and it may also contain a taste deterrent to stop the seed being eaten.

 

Whatever, the dressing will contain chemicals in microscopic amounts. The pigeon will contain balls of lead containing a 100 or a 1000 times more toxic volume. Swallowing a few shot every time you shoot and cook a bird is far more likely to harm you than a bit of seed dressing IMO.

[Nildes]

In addition to what I said above. I think that the use of mercury compounds in seed dressings stopped in the late sixties. Certainly Bayer was selling non-mercury dressings in the early seventies. I could be wrong, but my guess is that there's little likelihood of there being any of it used in any quantity now.

 

As far as Pigeons are concerned, those that were alive when mercury was used as a dressing should be dead now. If they were eaten by a predator, then the mercury could accumulate in its tissues and could kill them in the end. Except for foxes of course because we're all too keen to ensure that they die of lead poisoning

 

There is another source of mercury in the body that might be worrying if you are an older person and that is in your teeth. Many fillings contain a mercury amalgum which, if it crack or crumbles or you eat too much rhubarb pie releases mercury into the body. Most dentists leave these old fillings in place because they reckon it exposes you to more risk if they remove them

 

Hope this helps?

[Cranfield]

Having spoken to my farmer friend he tells me that "everything, seeds, sprays, fertilisers etc., " must be bird and mammal (incl people) friendly.

It would appear that insects and bugs don't get any sympathy.

 

There were rumours around about rape, pea and grain seeds that had been treated to make them unpalatable to pigeons, but it was just a rumour.

 

Eat away with confidence and anyway, I don't think glowing in the dark is a major disadvantage.

[BountyHunter]

Mercury causes certain mental ilnesses, in times gone by top hats were given their sheen by the hat maker or hatter brushing mercury over the surface of the finished item. The loss of sanity in the afore mentioned hat makers is where we get the expression "mad as a hatter".

 

This said, if you are going mad then you could have ingested too much mercury.

 

 

 

BH

[Wookie]

You have to worry that if a bird or something eats enough of something that is toxic enough to kill little things (insects etc), then it too is going to get a build-up of these toxic chemicals in its system.

 

Sooner or later, they are going to get eaten and the thing or person that eats them are going to take a little bit of that on-board too.

 

I can vaguely remember something about that from my degree course, but it's too hazy and I'm having a hard time doing it. I think it had something to do with the reason that a lot of raptors were having problems with reproducing because the insecticides were causing the females to lay eggs with shells that were very thin.

 

No, sorry, it's gone. I'll do a websearch or something later when I get home.

 

Wookie

[Cranfield]

The calculation is probably something like, you have to eat 10 pigeons a day for 10 years and you will get a rash, or something similar.

 

I would rather eat pigeons than wildfowl or fish, if you are concerned about mercury ingestion

[Yorkshire Pudding]

The red stuff is seed dressing ,AND IS NO LONGER MERCURY BASED . This was fazed out atleast 20 years ago .

 

all the best yis yp

[Highlander]

Two things spring to mind here.

 

Firstly a lot of seed nowadays is drilled so deep that the birds can't get at it. Peas are a good example, I have a chart that shows when the seed is planted, at what depth, what temperature and how it'll grow each week up to harvest time. Unless pigeons (and other seed eaters) have picks, shovels and a miners lamp they simply aren't gonna get at this stuff.

 

Secondly and as far as eating pigeons or for that matter any wild game (notice I said wild as I don't consider pheasants etc as wild) your a damn site better off than with farmed meat which in all likelyhood has been pumped full of chemicals, antibiotics, growth hormones etc etc (as have pheasants etc) and I bet most people eat far more of that stuff than they ever do wild meat. What about free range chickens? Ours have the run of the farm and eat (and catch) pretty much anything that's smaller than themselves including mice, frogs and various carrion. The eggs are about as good as they get and no ones ever been sick eating the meat!

 

Anyone ever tried eating charlie? I'm serious.

[fiascoshooter]

Peas will be treated with Thiram a fungicide often with a pink colour.

Rape treated with Rovral & Thiram fungicides and MAYBE Chinook, an insecticide to protect emerging seedlings from flea beetle, often seed is vivid mauve.

Google em if you want but bear in mind that everything including common salt has a hazard list as long as yer arm nowadays under the new EU chemicals regulations.

Personally I'd not lose too much sleep over it, or if you are really worried, smoke more to ensure that the hardened arteries give out before the poison gets you.

Definitely will not be mercury.

Edited January 19, 2006 by fiascoshooter

[markbivvy]

put your dead birds in a dark room, if they dont glow bright green, eat em

[fiascoshooter]

Negative that, put them in a suet crust pudding with some mushrooms, and worry about World poverty or the rainforests instead.

[old rooster]

Having spoken to my farmer friend he tells me that "everything, seeds, sprays, fertilisers etc., " must be bird and mammal (incl people) friendly.

It would appear that insects and bugs don't get any sympathy.

 

There were rumours around about rape, pea and grain seeds that had been treated to make them unpalatable to pigeons, but it was just a rumour.

 

Eat away with confidence and anyway, I don't think glowing in the dark is a major disadvantage. :blink:

Makes sense in this age of total safety and risk of litigation.

 

I asked this very question of the BASC last year given the same concerns as the original poster and although I didn't get a definitive answer they seemed to feel that risk to health was unlikely.

 

If you can get details of the seed supplier I'd be happy to write to them on behalf of the forum IF THATS OK BY THE FORUM OWNERS and post the results here.

 

Not sure that glowing in the dark would be that helpful while out lamping rabbits though Cranners :blink:

Edited January 24, 2006 by old rooster

[johnskevena]

Considering what chemicals and god only knows what else that is administered to cattle sheep and pigs by most mass producers these days i think i would take my chances with the pigeons first :blink:

Edited January 24, 2006 by johnskevena