tody27 Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I was on the way home when i saw a load of pigeons feeding on winter cereal. I was amazed i have never seen them eating this stuff- there was perhaps 50 birds on it. I dont understand- i didnt think they ate the shoots at this time of year; i live in lincolnshire so its not as if there was no rape about! Can any1 tell me why they were eating on this field?- i cant think of any explaination for it except maybe they have been scared off by the scarers on the rape, but there cant be a scarer on every field tody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sniper Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Tody, I saw hundreds sat on a field of winter drilling yesterday. They were merely laying up, until they decided to move onto a nearby rape field. On looking through the binoculars at them they were just sat there, not feeding at all. Are you sure yours weren't doing the same ?? P.S. I went back today to try to ambush them on the rape field...not a single appeared...........ah the joys of so much rape about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tody27 Posted February 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 sniper, never rilly thought about them lying up! I deffinetly saw 1 of them feeding, and a few were moving around a bit. Maybe they were just lying up but at the same time picking at the bugs. tody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Tody As grain feeders generally, pigeons need to eat small stones /grit which churns up the contents of the crop and grinds it into a digestible soup. This is not so apparent when they eat soft feed like clover, or rape but more so with Beechmast, acorns and grain. I used to give my captive birds this as a suppliment to their feed and it can be often found in the crops of shot birds. You probably observed the birds picking at the grit in the fields. However, That said I did cut open two birds recently which were stuffed with just sprouting grain ( Wheat grain ) The shoots were about 1/4 ins long. So these birds have been feeding in the winter wheat fields.... As I have suggested before on these pages rape tastes pretty disgusting and I am convinced that if there is an alternative to rape nearby the birds will be on it.... FM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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