Quality matters

[Murray]

About a year ago my club purchased a tonne of safflower, it worked out at $1.00 a kilogram.
Bargain,
Except, it has not been, really.
Right from the start I was not happy with the smell of it, and neither were the pigeons. Not rotten or mouldy or anything but if you put your face in a bag of saff, what do you smell? Nothing. It has no smell at all. This did.
I've put up with it until now, but even the small wild birds aren't that keen on it. Cockies eat it. Cockies eat anything
So i got a fresh bag of Saff and made a new mix when we got home yesterday.
The pigeons like it
So now I have a sack of safflower to feed to the cockatoos.
I've got a bit of black sunflower because the pigeons weren't keen on the saff.

[Devo1956]

Quality matters a great deal, if you want good nutrition you pay that bit extra. Over the years of being involved in racing pigeons, what you feed is paramount if you want the best out of your birds. Now other members may have different views on this topic. Good nutrition helps in all sports, feed to win.

[NeilA]

Think I had the same issue with some maize

I couldn’t get my normal brand and purchased a different brand
I have my dropping/ throats sample tested every 3/4 weeks my birds lost form and came back with a very high fungus count so I treated with nystain and all was ok
The vet asked me had I changed my corn as I had never had a reading like that on my records and it was only the maize I had changed
So I avoid that brand of corn now that has maize or cereal in the mix just use there beans / peas

[Murray]

Quality matters a great deal, if you want good nutrition you pay that bit extra. Over the years of being involved in racing pigeons, what you feed is paramount if you want the best out of your birds. Now other members may have different views on this topic. Good nutrition helps in all sports, feed to win.

Well said, Devo.
There isn't one season of the year where second grade food is good enough.

[Murray]

Think I had the same issue with some maize

I couldn’t get my normal brand and purchased a different brand
I have my dropping/ throats sample tested every 3/4 weeks my birds lost form and came back with a very high fungus count so I treated with nystain and all was ok
The vet asked me had I changed my corn as I had never had a reading like that on my records and it was only the maize I had changed
So I avoid that brand of corn now that has maize or cereal in the mix just use there beans / peas

The thing is I had some safflower that was not good enough.You had some maize that wasn't right.
We cannot ban a brand or supplier because once they had supplies of grain that were not good enough.
Stock feed retailers hang their reputations on what they sell. They can only sell what they get.
I will forgive a grain store for a sample of grain that is not good enough.
But maybe not if it happens again.

[NeilA]

Think I had the same issue with some maize

I couldn’t get my normal brand and purchased a different brand
I have my dropping/ throats sample tested every 3/4 weeks my birds lost form and came back with a very high fungus count so I treated with nystain and all was ok
The vet asked me had I changed my corn as I had never had a reading like that on my records and it was only the maize I had changed
So I avoid that brand of corn now that has maize or cereal in the mix just use there beans / peas

The thing is I had some safflower that was not good enough.You had some maize that wasn't right.
We cannot ban a brand or supplier because once they had supplies of grain that were not good enough.
Stock feed retailers hang their reputations on what they sell. They can only sell what they get.
I will forgive a grain store for a sample of grain that is not good enough.
But maybe not if it happens again.

I can Murray
We are able to buy different brands so it’s easier , I was just stuck at the time to get my normal . I wouldn’t be wise to risk it again even if it may be better now

[Trev]

You'll quite often find with most grains, that if harvested with a high moisture content, and not dried properly, that they can often smell fousty without showing any external signs of mould/fungus. I'm not sure that they will really do much harm but probably just aren't as palatable and lack some of the nutritional value they should have.