Salt !

[rich]

Hi,

 

My birds keep hanging round the salt bin on the side of the street

(The yellow ones which contain salt for gritting roads) eating the spilt salt

 

I have tried different types of grits, minerals,pick blocks, matrix over the last couple of years

Yet my birds are still returning to salt bin

 

Two questions

 

What are they missing from their diet to keep going for salt

 

And

 

Is this constant intake of the road salt doing any harm to my birds

 

Thanks in advance for your feed back

Very much appreciated

[steff30]

Hi,

 

My birds keep hanging round the salt bin on the side of the street

(The yellow ones which contain salt for gritting roads) eating the spilt salt

 

I have tried different types of grits, minerals,pick blocks, matrix over the last couple of years

Yet my birds are still returning to salt bin

 

Two questions

 

What are they missing from their diet to keep going for salt

 

And

 

Is this constant intake of the road salt doing any harm to my birds

 

Thanks in advance for your feed back

Very much appreciated

Rich can't the salt bin be relocated?

[Guest Owen]

The sheep on the open hill spend a lot of time licking the road to get at the salt from when the Council Gritters gritted the roads during the winter. They risk their life and limbs to get their share. When I kept pedigree sheep I supplied them with a powdered mineral which contained salt. This mixture was recommended by the Ministry Vets after they tested to soil. The wild birds, cats, dogs and even poultry would take their share of this lick which was left out in special containers. I supply my pigeons with a mixture of grit, crumbled clay blocks and Vitamineral fresh every day which seems to satisfy them. Nevertheless they will always go to the feeder and take the mixture when it is fresh. I am convinced that many pigeons can not attain top health because they lack Vitamin "D" which they get from the Calcium in their diet and from the sunshine. When you consider that pigeons need calcium to help them grow their feathers and to add strength to their bones bearing in mind that many of a bird's bones are in fact hollow, they can never function without adequate minerals in their diet.

I believe that the modern feeds are deficient in trace elements and minerals which leaves livestock with a craving for these things. In addition to that the rock doves that were the original pigeons lived near the coast and drank from water that was rich in salts and minerals. The modern pigeons still need to have these things available to them. At one time I had a field that had plenty of grass but the sheep would never settle down and stay there. They would always break out. I dressed the field with seaweed fertiliser and things changed almost straight away. And better still the sheep looked better and developed a nice shine to their coats.

I think that it is possible that your birds are telling you they there is something missing from their diet. If that is the case you will need to sort it out if you are going to get them into their best condition.

[just ask me]

its also more of a habit they have formed at this stage which with even replacing what ever they are looking for you will still may have problems breaking the habit of feeding off the salt

[gulkie]

Hi,

 

My birds keep hanging round the salt bin on the side of the street

(The yellow ones which contain salt for gritting roads) eating the spilt salt

 

I have tried different types of grits, minerals,pick blocks, matrix over the last couple of years

Yet my birds are still returning to salt bin

 

Two questions

 

What are they missing from their diet to keep going for salt

 

And

 

Is this constant intake of the road salt doing any harm to my birds

 

Thanks in advance for your feed back

Very much appreciated

Rich u are the only one that can say if its doing any harm,????why not take a bucket full up to your loft

Then they might not go looking for it ????

[William Reid]

Any pigeon looking for a high intake of salt I would always think that worms would be the main problem JMO :emoticon-0140-rofl:

[Guest Owen]

I think the connection between worms and salt could be because pigeons that crave for salt will peck around on the soil in an attempt to find salt. They find salt in worm casts and slugs, snails and even beetles which harbour worms and other infections. If they do this there is a good chance that they will pick up worm eggs and become infected with worms. Then a cycle is started. Infected pigeons will cast their worms on the soil to infect more pigeons. I reckon that this is a serious problem if you want to win pigeon races because wormy pigeons will be badly handicapped.

[DOVEScot]

Pigeons and other animals will find minerals etc from various sources for whatever they are craving, worms could be a problem as the high salt diet may kill off the eggs, racing pigeons should be wormed regularly, I have a half an oak barrel which has salt licks for horses on a post which they peck at, also type one ballast dust or small grains and crushed scallop shells and crushed sandstone yet they still root out other minerals. The guy next door works in agriculture and he is constantly on farms, the birds from the cotes, which never get ill, peck away under his car to get what they want and one pecks up his exhaust much to Carol's annoyance as it looks like it had a black head

Edited July 2, 2013 by DOVEScot