where magnetite comes from.

Roland · January 3, 2007

Feel that Quartz - like I POSTED ON another heading - is surprisingly in nigh ever pigeons crop, how and wherefore makes one wonders, especially when they tell you All grit given is in the loft, they never land elsewhere and I have them straight in etc. lol

Below is an explanation where magnetite comes from. It is found in small quantities in migrating animals, e.g. pigeons. I don't believe feeding magnetite to pigeons will make them home better but I believe since it is a mineral it won't do them any harm.

Here it is: ( Compton's Encyclopedia)

The Earth's History Told in Rocks

The rocks tell a fascinating story of the origin and history of the Earth--a story that goes back millions of years. They tell of giant explosions; of mountains that rose from the sea and then were worn down to plains; of seas that invaded the land and then retreated or dried up. They tell of blankets of ice and of buried forests that turned to stone. The scientists who can read this story of the Earth are called geologists. (See also Earth; Geology.)

All rocks fall into one of three groups, according to how they were formed. These groups are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.

How Igneous Rocks Are Formed

The word igneous comes from the Latin ignis, meaning "fire." Igneous rocks were never actually on fire, but they were formed from very hot molten material. Igneous rocks were the first rocks.

The Earth in its beginning was a mass of molten matter, or magma. It contained the elements, which are the building blocks of all matter. As the magma cooled and condensed, its elements combined to form minerals. Oxygen and silicon, for example, are the two most common elements. They combine to form quartz, one of the most abundant of the minerals. A different combination of elements produces the mineral feldspar. Scientists know about 1,500 minerals. The only ones that occur in large enough masses to be important as rock builders, however, are quartz, feldspar, and a group called the ferromagnesian minerals. This group includes hornblende, pyroxene, biotite (black mica), olivine, and magnetite. They are dark because they contain iron and magnesium.

How Magma Becomes Rock

Igneous rocks are still being formed from pockets of magma some 40 miles underground. Magma is a hot, doughy material mixed with gases and steam. It rises along cracks in the Earth's crust. If it solidifies before it reaches the surface it forms an intrusive igneous rock. If it is thrown out by volcanic action, it forms an extrusive igneous rock.

The separation of mineral ore particles from waste or from other minerals is made possible by such properties as the specific gravity or magnetic susceptibility of the minerals. Mineral particles that are very small are usually separated by the use of special machines containing a fluid, such as water. The most important methods for separating or classifying ores with the use of a fluid are the gravity, flotation, and sink-float processes.

A jig is a type of gravity concentrator in which grains of ore lie on a screen submerged in water. The water receives impulses from a reciprocating plunger. This causes the grains to be placed in suspension and sorted according to their specific gravities. The heavy grains sink onto the screen; the light grains float.

In the flotation method, the finely ground ore is mixed with water and fed into a tank, or flotation cell, which contains some chemicals. The mixture is agitated, and air is blown into the tank to form bubbles. The mineral grains adhere to the bubbles and rise to the top of the tank. This concentrate is skimmed off, filtered, and dried. The remaining waste material is drawn off for disposal in a tailings pond.

In the sink-float process, the ground ore is fed into a cone-shaped tank containing a water mixture and a dense medium such as magnetite. The mixture is agitated by revolving paddles. The material having a higher specific gravity than the magnetite tends to sink and is drawn off through a nozzle at the bottom. The material having a lower specific gravity floats and is removed at the surface.

In a magnetic separation process, the minerals are separated as they pass between the poles ofstrong electromagnets. Among the minerals which can be separated magnetically from waste or from other ores are iron-bearing magnetite and pyrrhotite.

January 3, 2007

Agree that it would be next to useless to feed them this stuff. Seems they have 6 million particles of the stuff in the trigo nerve sheath, so don´t see how fresh stuff would get there or if it could what difference a few more bits would make.

Reckon it all comes in kit form in the DNA (genes). Each gene carries special codes which tell it what to construct, and the messenger stuff (RNA) tells them when to do it and where.

Lots of other minerals in there too, including calcium and silver.

As far as I know none of it is ordered from Boddy & Ridewood . ;D

Roland · January 3, 2007

Bruno I don't know if you eat pigeons or not but I don't. However, there are those who do and one thing I have mentioned on here and else where is to for folks to do ythemselves a favour, to learn what your birds are using for grit.

Ask whoever you give the culls to save you the gizzards, then cut them open and slowly wash away the fibres’ and seed casings and contents etc, until nothing is left behind but the grit that was in there. I use 6 at a time which gives me a good cross section of what I am looking for.

If you put this recovered grit in a small clear glass bottle of water, and hold it up to the light, you will see that 90% of it is quartz, and yet very few commercial grits have quartz in them??? Therefore the birds are obviously picking it up as they do there open lofting but, it's interesting to note that quartz get's a major mention in the article posted above about Magnetite.

So the next time your friend asks you if you have any slow culls for him to eat, ask him to save you the gizzards and check this out for yourself.

Roland · January 4, 2007

Well, if you are a jack of all trades and no expert on anything(..lol) one needs to get the required information from somewhere. The quickest place is the encyclopedia and if it is important enough you search further. Here is another passage on homing ability out of Comptons.

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Many species of birds--such as pigeons, sparrows, and bobolinks--as well as some fish--such as yellow fin tuna--and honeybees, and even bacteria, have been known to migrate by orienting themselves to the Earth's magnetic fields. Researchers have found tiny crystals of a magnetic ore, magnetite, in the tissues of these animals that presumably help them navigate in this way. However, it is believed that birds in particular do not migrate by the polarity of the magnetic fields, but rather by detecting and then using the angle between the lines of the magnetic field and the horizontal plane of the Earth as guides.

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Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia

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Above is only a theory same as other theories some of us believe to be correct. Scientists have found that several species of animals have magnetite in their tissues according to above. I believe feeding magnetite as a supplement does not make them home any better because there is more involved than magnetite in their tissues. I believe the scientists have not found yet what makes pigeons home the way they do although there are a lot of theories on this subject.

In some of your mineral and vitamin supplements you may have a low-level of magnetite mixed in with all other essential minerals and vitamins a bird needs but just feeding it magnetite for the purpose of increasing homing ability is a waste of money, I believe. Never fed magnetite and never would even consider it. I believe a champion quite often is a champion despite of what it is fed or how it is handled. If a bird is not born with champion qualities it does not matter what we do it will never become a champion.

Roland · January 4, 2007

Below is an explanation where magnetite comes from. It is found in small quantities in migrating animals, e.g. pigeons. I don't believe feeding magnetite to pigeons will make them home better but I believe since it is a mineral it won't do them any harm.

Here it is: ( Compton's Encyclopedia)

The Earth's History Told in Rocks

The rocks tell a fascinating story of the origin and history of the Earth--a story that goes back millions of years. They tell of giant explosions; of mountains that rose from the sea and then were worn down to plains; of seas that invaded the land and then retreated or dried up. They tell of blankets of ice and of buried forests that turned to stone. The scientists who can read this story of the Earth are called geologists. (See also Earth; Geology.)

All rocks fall into one of three groups, according to how they were formed. These groups are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.

How Igneous Rocks Are Formed

The word igneous comes from the Latin ignis, meaning "fire." Igneous rocks were never actually on fire, but they were formed from very hot molten material. Igneous rocks were the first rocks.

The Earth in its beginning was a mass of molten matter, or magma. It contained the elements, which are the building blocks of all matter. As the magma cooled and condensed, its elements combined to form minerals. Oxygen and silicon, for example, are the two most common elements. They combine to form quartz, one of the most abundant of the minerals. A different combination of elements produces the mineral feldspar. Scientists know about 1,500 minerals. The only ones that occur in large enough masses to be important as rock builders, however, are quartz, feldspar, and a group called the ferromagnesian minerals. This group includes hornblende, pyroxene, biotite (black mica), olivine, and magnetite. They are dark because they contain iron and magnesium.

How Magma Becomes Rock

Igneous rocks are still being formed from pockets of magma some 40 miles underground. Magma is a hot, doughy material mixed with gases and steam. It rises along cracks in the Earth's crust. If it solidifies before it reaches the surface it forms an intrusive igneous rock. If it is thrown out by volcanic action, it forms an extrusive igneous rock.

The separation of mineral ore particles from waste or from other minerals is made possible by such properties as the specific gravity or magnetic susceptibility of the minerals. Mineral particles that are very small are usually separated by the use of special machines containing a fluid, such as water. The most important methods for separating or classifying ores with the use of a fluid are the gravity, flotation, and sink-float processes.

A jig is a type of gravity concentrator in which grains of ore lie on a screen submerged in water. The water receives impulses from a reciprocating plunger. This causes the grains to be placed in suspension and sorted according to their specific gravities. The heavy grains sink onto the screen; the light grains float.

In the flotation method, the finely ground ore is mixed with water and fed into a tank, or flotation cell, which contains some chemicals. The mixture is agitated, and air is blown into the tank to form bubbles. The mineral grains adhere to the bubbles and rise to the top of the tank. This concentrate is skimmed off, filtered, and dried. The remaining waste material is drawn off for disposal in a tailings pond.

In the sink-float process, the ground ore is fed into a cone-shaped tank containing a water mixture and a dense medium such as magnetite. The mixture is agitated by revolving paddles. The material having a higher specific gravity than the magnetite tends to sink and is drawn off through a nozzle at the bottom. The material having a lower specific gravity floats and is removed at the surface.

In a magnetic separation process, the minerals are separated as they pass between the poles ofstrong electromagnets. Among the minerals which can be separated magnetically from waste or from other ores are iron-bearing magnetite and pyrrhotite.

January 4, 2007

MAYBE NOT DO THEM ANY HARM BUT BUYING IT WILL HARM YOUR POCKETS AS DAZER SELL IT AND NOT TOO CHEAPLY AT THAT

Ronnie · January 5, 2007

Maybe the old boy's used to use something that contained it and thats why they never lost as many young birds?.Also how about feeding it prior to pairing to see if the young birds homed any better.To be sure you would need a lot of time and money to research it properly i think.

Going back to the older flyers i overheard one saying they used to put an old nail in the water till it went rusty ,whats that all about?

January 6, 2007

put an old nail in the water till it went rusty ,whats that all about?

PRODUCES IRON PARTICLES IN THE WATER

January 6, 2007

I´ve seen my birds bring up the stuff you may refer to as quartz.

Tiny smooth round and white pebbles, usually a little group of 3. Always thought it was the ´hard´grit, ground down and no longer of any use to the bird.

Also thought it calcium or a granite based rock. Don´t know what ´rock´ the hard grit is, (Kilpatricks) but I do know that the birds eat it and other ´grit´stuff from the garden.

My point about magnetite was that it is part of a closed system in the bird, found in the lining of the trigonomial nerve which is thought to be involved in navigation and homing systems. Can´t see how feeding the bird this would achieve anything, how would it get into the nerve sheath?

But like us, birds must surely rely on more than one of many senses to get them where they want to be. The sun compass & map, ultrasound, landmarks, memory of home territory, smell and many others have been put forward as ´the´ main or only means of homing. So surely we would need to build upon all these too?

Or maybe none at all? I think a 4-week old bird knows a damned sight more than any of us do about how it gets home, and what additional help it needs. Pity they can´t talk

peterpau · January 7, 2007

Well I've aquired a large quantity of magnetite for free. All I can say is the birds do seem to like it. I often think the birds themselves seem to know what they require. The Magnetite I have was imported from scandinavia for building a new radiology department at a hospital. I have my best results at 500 miles + and know we will get 'em. The birds like it so they can have it. It cost me nothing so tiz worth a try. Then I am lucky I work for one of the largest companies in the world for building materials. Tiz also how my birds get trained 50/60 miles any direction.