When preparing the food scraps, unused food items & toasted whole-meal bread pellets, I make sure they are small enough for the pigeons to be able to eat easily. I maintain a similar standard of hygiene to the food that I prepare for myself and anything that is even slightly off or discolored goes into the compost or worm farm bin. They appear to like almost everything that we eat except for raw onions & garlic as well as items with a strong flavor such as licorice & aniseed. Any meats, poultry & seafood should be well cooked and skins, anything hard or anything that we would not eat should also go to the compost or worm farm bin. I finalize the bags for both sets of birds just after lunch so that they all get the benefit of the tastes from the three meals of the day. I ladle half of the rice that I cooked in the morning [one full cup in a casserole pot & left to absorb the water] into the strainer then spread it out onto two plates then into the two bags for the home birds: prior to this I divide half of the food mix from each bag into two temporary bags for the city birds. I allow the rice to sit on top of the mix for a few minutes for the moisture to be absorbed by the bread pellets. I then turn the bags around several times so that the firmer rice grains are spread evenly through the mix and will help to break up the large clumps of food. I then add to each bag five small handfuls from a packet of corn flakes, crushing each handful three times with the fingers in the right hand fist. Next I add the 1kg bag of quick oats, half into each of the two bags & then I turn each bag backwards & forwards several times in order that the oats become evenly distributed throughout the food mix. The quick oats are terrific, mix well with all of the ingredients, absorb moisture from the wet food scraps and in conjunction with the agitation from the turning, help to break up the large food clumps. While I turn each bag backwards & forwards several times holding the bag at the top with the left hand & turning with the right, I can break up any large clumps of food with gentle pressure between the thumb & fingers of the right hand. There are several options to formulate programs to utilize the vast amount of food that is wasted in the form of food scraps or unused food items. It is not only the chickens & pigs that could consume a large amount of the food scraps & unused food items when processed and converted into interesting food pellets but also all of the farm animals, particularly the pasture grazing animals sheep, goats, dairy cows, cattle & horses. It is imperative that we arrest the rapid emergence of bacterial resistance as outlined in the following links for the survival of our own species. Washing & processing the cereal & pasture crops together with the food scraps & unused food items into food pellets & eaten in the food lots rather than grazing in the open fields where they are readily contaminated will diminish the widespread use of antibiotics that cause the emergence of ‘superbugs’. abcnews.go/Health/Wellness/antibiotic-resistance-riskiest-superbugs/story?id=15980356#.T3LGaGH2ZL4 sciencedaily/releases/2013/02/130211162236.htm Unchecked Antibiotic Use in Animals May Affect Global Human Health sciencedaily/releases/2013/03/130311124201.htm Antibiotic Resistance Has the Potential to Undermine Modern Health Systems, Say Experts sbs.au/news/article/1647063/Garlic-more-powerful-than-antibiotics sbs.au/news/article/1730266/New-gel-can-kill-superbugs abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/01/12/3407056.htm carp au.news.yahoo/world/a/-/latest/17133697/bugs-are-food-of-the-future-un-agency/ abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/03/01/3699431.htm Wild pollinators key to feeding the world sciencedaily/releases/2013/02/130228155622.htm Loss of Wild Insects Hurts Crops around the World abc.net.au/news/2013-04-29/eu-to-ban-pesticides-linked-to-bee-deaths/4658964 au.news.yahoo/sa/latest/a/-/local/17759316/stepping-up-the-fight-to-protect-bees/ au.news.yahoo/world/a/-/world/17038442/cabin-had-60000-bees/
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 07:17:24 +0000
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