Safflower or Sunflower?

[Guest CS]

Which of the two do you prefer using, and if your choice is Sunflower - do you de-husk it or feed it as is?

 

 

 

[Chatrace]

I feed both ,but use safflower more. When using sun flower I use the Black oil ones with hulls

[jimmy white]

mines get a handfull of my parrot food now and again ,this contains both , max the parrot said he wasnt pleased at this ;D ;D ;D

[Guest]

is safflower not used as a substitute for maize

[jimmy white]

if im not wrong sammy , i think theres more protein in safflower seed , whereas maize is  high carboheydrate [at least my parrot told me that ;D ;D]

[Wiley]

safflower also has one of the most nutritional values of fat then any other seed, hence the reason why many distance fanciers use this!

[jimmy white]

see, max the parrot was right  ;D ;D ;D

[Guest speckled]

;D ;D ;D ye thats why he shucks it all over the floor. :X :X :X ;D ;D ;D ;D jimmy lol ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D speck best of asking the hoover what it thinks lol ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[expat1]

Hi

We finish off our Pigeons for a Long Distance Race by giving them De Hulled sunflower Seed, The sunflower seed with the husk on is very slow to give nourisment to the pigeons we want it to work fast so in the &0,s i used to take the shell off by hand using a Razor Blade. Today all this is done for the Fancier, use it with Confidence and add a teaspoon a bird of Hemp Seed the last Five Days it does the job of topping them off, that along with Beer Yeast and Oil, plus a Race Vitamin twice a week, should do the trick

Steve

[jimmy white]

;D ;D ;D ye thats why he shucks it all over the floor. :X :X :X ;D ;D ;D ;D jimmy lol ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D speck best of asking the hoover what it thinks lol ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

i did  ;D ;D ;D  it said vac me  ;D ;D ;D

[Guest slugmonkey]

You guys are using 3 diffrent things that DO 3 diffrent things sunflower seeds with the hulls on provide ruffage as well as fat they are digested slower the ones with no hulls and provide a lot of fat

the ones with no hulls are quickly absorbed and give right now energy

safflower is kinda in the middle and also gives some carbs as well as fat but the thing with safflower is the birds love it and will devour it in large quantities very easily

I wouldnt substitute safflower for corn as corn is loaded with carbs

[expat1]

Hi Slugmonkey

When you say corn i suppose you mean Maize, On the buildup for a Long Race the Last Five to seven days we use Hulled Sunflower seed and have done for over 20 years, they still get some Racing Mixture which has a fair percentage of Maize in it but we give Sunflower Seed and Hemp seed in the buildup to a long race, NO' extra maize at all, we do if think it needed give them a few Soya Beans and of course they get a few Peanuts broken up.

Its stood us in good stead for many years

Pigeons is about trying different things, when you find one that gives you results you do not change it

Steve

Added this bit on, The racing Mixture itself contains Sunflower seed and safflower seed in its natural state with hulls on, the De Hulled Seed is an extra on the buildup

[T_T]

Remember reading an "Old Hand" article some years ago saying that whilst he was in hospital he peeled Sunflower seeds and fed the centres to his pigeon in  preparing him for a 5oo miler.  Needless to say he entered the bird and claimed the bacon.  I think then, there must be something in what these people say.  remember they are doing the hard work in proving  these " snippets" so that you can take the short cut.  You could do a lot worse than listen to these very experienced fanciers.  Most of em' on here.

[Guest slugmonkey]

I buy and feed hulled sunflower seed and also use it to build for longer races I belive it is similiar to peanuts in fat content but I feed a lot of corn ( maize ) we get horsetooth or what is referred to as king corn and I give a lot of that during race season ( over 50% )

[expat1]

Slug Monkey

The Maize you call Horsetooth Maize is known over in England as American No 2 maize, I agree it is a brilliant maize to my mind far better than French Maize, My old Pigeon Tutor the Late great A.R .Hill of St Just, Cornwall swore by it but i have never seen it here over in Belgium a great shame but the way corn dealers think. Small grains are better, Not my way of thinking again but you get what you can get

Steve

[Guest slugmonkey]

Mayb I could send you some seeds and you could grow your own

[Guest CS]

Which of the two do you prefer using, and if your choice is Sunflower - do you de-husk it or feed it as is?

[EAGLEOWL]

safflower to much waste with sunflowers

[Fair Play]

you can buy sunflower seeds with husks removed birds loved them left the peanuts

[Ed Bourque]

safflower to me works wonders while in training and racing. good protien, fats and carbs. Ed

[schyphos]

Safflower for me  

[Wiley]

i feed both

[Tony C]

Feed a % of safflower to racers. Hulled sunflower seeds fed to pigeons getting set up for the distance

[Guest slugmonkey]

you are comparing apples to oranges each of these has there place

sunflower has fiber and oils ( fat )

hulled sunflower has lots of fats and higher protien %

safflower lot of fat

although many will interchange hulled sunflower and safflower they shouldnt be used in place of shell on sunflower

[Guest]

I'd posted a bit of an article on safflower that I'd picked up a while ago. Piece also contains a bit about sunflower, and it is basically concerned with 'fat'.  

 

 

Safflower seeds are low in protein (16%), about equal amount of carbohydrates (34%), and fats (38%). Because the fat content of safflower is high and the protein is low it cannot serve as a complete source of amino acids in the pigeon’s diet. Therefore, it only purpose as a feed ingredient is to provide fat as an energy source during flight. However, it has profound limitations as a complete source of balanced unsaturated fats. For this reason the remainder of this paper will examine safflower’s health benefits and the downside of its use as a main source of fat in the pigeon’s diet.

 

 

Fats are also known as fatty acids because they acidify the blood. There are two types of fatty acids known as saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. The unsaturated fatty acids are broken down into two types of unsaturated fatty acids that are also components of many grains. These subclasses of unsaturated fatty acids are known as omega-3 (n-3) and omega-6 (n-6) unsaturated fatty acids because they differ in their effects on health of a bird, mammal or a human.

 

Seeds that contain omega-6 unsaturated fatty acids are safflower, corn, sunflower, cottonseed, and soybean and the seeds that contain omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids are green leafy vegetables, flaxseed, rapeseed, and walnuts,

 

Pigeon feed is high in omega-6 unsaturated fatty acids, because in most feed mixtures the main oily seed composition contains corn, safflower, milo, hemp, peanuts, almonds, etc., and a serious deficiency of omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids exists. This lack of balance between the omega-3 vs. omega-6 unsaturated fatty acids may induce many health problems including, immunosuppression, and increase in blood viscosity, spasm of the blood vessels, constriction of the blood vessels, and decrease in bleeding time (a potentially serious problem). On the other hand, omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids, however, have anti inflammatory, antithrombolitic, antiarrhythmic (stops irregular heart beats), and expands the blood vessels.