Hi All, is there any one out there who is not pulling my leg, or my feathers, I really do need the pigeon dung, just not at silly prices, seriously though 60.00 bucks, where did that price come from, I certainly can’t afford that sort of cash, come down some and you’ve got a deal. Besides because I cant find any I cant price compare but that sounds like an awful lot of money to me.
I came to you guys coz I'm trying to learn something new, a-not-for profit project in my spare time.
I could use modern methods for bating possibly using tanning chemicals but I thought I'd cherish the environment, also I'm a bit of a traditionalist and like to do things properly. If you find there is a market in your bird dung then profit away but remember you heard it here first…The potential for sale is pretty big from your perspective it can be used as a prized fertiliser although with new legislation and avian diseases only a hard core organic farmer might contemplate its use.
I just thought if you had no further use for it that I could trouble you for a little bit of your time and effort, which doesn’t in itself come without reward but some effort has to come from you, your not exactly making it yourself.
I’ve included some info below about the historic use of pigeon dung and I wanted to post a picture from the oldest tannery known in Fez in Morocco where I spent the weekend to see the tannery, they still use this method although some advances from the ancient recipes have crept in over time. However I could'nt find the attach button, so if you know how to attach pics and want to see, just let me know.
-Tanners work at a vat where the skins are softened in a nauseating concoction of pigeon droppings, often urine and or clay which strips out any un-wanted oils which if not removed will prevent the tanning liquor from entering into the layers of the leather and saturating the skin right through.
-The bating mixture should firstly be mixed and strained through a flax gauze, if the mixture is not strained large pieces of bating material can sit on the skin and burn through the skin and the heavy mixture can settle on the skin burning the skin and it could become un-useable.
The bating vat contains a preparation of proteolytic enzymes which accomplish a controlled disintegration of the skin substance. The chemical effects of bating are not clearly understood, but the process results in a skin that is noticeably softer, more even in texture, and more pliable.
-Bating can take from 3 to 4 hours or last for several days.
-The bating process combines the process of softening the skin whilst removing un-wanted oil in the skin which should be stripped out of the skin before it can be tanned aiding the tannins to penetrate deeply into the skin. Fatty matter varies depending on the type of skin with sheep skins being richly impregnated; the average yield is about 4 oz. per skin and significantly less for goat skins.
-Although pigeon droppings seen as a major problem for property owners in the 21st Century, it was considered to be an invaluable resource in the 16th, 17th and 18th century in Europe.
Pigeon droppings are a highly prized fertiliser and considered to be far more potent than farmyard manure, so prized in fact that armed guards were stationed at the entrances to dovecotes to stop thieves stealing it.
Not only this, but in England in the 16th century pigeon droppings were the only known source of saltpetre, an essential ingredient of gunpowder and was considered a highly valued commodity as a result.
In Iran, where eating pigeon flesh was forbidden, dovecotes were set up and used simply as a source of fertilizer for melon crops and in France and Italy it was used to fertilize vineyards and hemp crops.
P.S If your in the UK you are in a deliverable area...
Lisa
