Guineas and rye seed.

Big Dave · #1 09/18/12, 11:35 AM

When they eat the seed will it produce when pooped out or will their digestion kill the seed.

ronbre · #2 09/18/12, 11:41 AM

really don't know about rye and guineas but most birds can poop out whole seeds which come with their own little fertilizer package..and a lot of them will grow, but if you are planning on allowing your rye to self seed thru the guinea..i'd say it would be a wild bet

Bearfootfarm · #3 09/18/12, 12:46 PM

It it's Rye that you purchased as SEED, it may be treated with fungicides that could be harmful to the birds.

Otherwise, if it passes through whole, it could sprout.
Rye can be sown by just throwing it on the ground and it will do fine if it gets the needed moisture

Big Dave · #4 09/18/12, 06:02 PM

I found out rye will grow just by dropping it on the ground. Trail all the way to the food plot from hole in bag. I want to put more out this winter but do not want to hurt the remaining birds I have left.

Bearfootfarm · #5 09/18/12, 08:12 PM

Quote:

I want to put more out this winter but do not want to hurt the remaining birds I have left.

If it's been treated, it will say so on either the bag or more likely on the label

wogglebug · #6 09/18/12, 09:44 PM

There's only a small proportion of whole seed gets through birds that eat it. Their crop is a grain-mill. They swallow a lot of gravel and small stones (and shell-grit and oyster shell), it settles in their crop, which rotates and massages it along with anything they eat, grinding it all up. The fine-ground stuff then overflows into the rest of the digestive tract.

You'd be wasting a lot of expensive seed to get any whole seed past the crop.

65284 · #7 09/18/12, 10:36 PM

duplicate post.

65284 · #8 09/18/12, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wogglebug

There's only a small proportion of whole seed gets through birds that eat it. Their crop is a grain-mill. They swallow a lot of gravel and small stones (and shell-grit and oyster shell), it settles in their crop, which rotates and massages it along with anything they eat, grinding it all up. The fine-ground stuff then overflows into the rest of the digestive tract.

You'd be wasting a lot of expensive seed to get any whole seed past the crop.

woggle, it's the gizzard that contains the stones and does the grinding. The crop is the pouch where feed is accumulated and slowly passed along to the gizzard for processing.

Bearfootfarm · #9 09/18/12, 11:39 PM

Quote:

You'd be wasting a lot of expensive seed to get any whole seed past the crop.

It sounds to me like he's more concerned the birds will eat all the seed he's sowing.
He's not planning on feediing it to the birds, hoping it will grow when they spread it

wogglebug · #10 09/19/12, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 65284

woggle, it's the gizzard that contains the stones and does the grinding. The crop is the pouch where feed is accumulated and slowly passed along to the gizzard for processing.

Whoops! Brain/memory malfunction. I knew that - I've pulled enough of them out of enough poultry.
Doesn't invalidate the principle, though.

And whether he feeds it to them, or they pick it up after sowing, it's still expensive seed getting ground fine.