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Post by slicedodger on Mar 17, 2006 12:07:59 GMT -5
Anyone ever use (trapped) starlings as a food source? I have heard that they are a fairly clean and nutritionally acceptable candidate. Probably a good idea to eviscerate regardless.
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Post by ccrobbins on Mar 20, 2006 15:03:59 GMT -5
I only keep the starlings and housies.
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Post by slicedodger on Mar 20, 2006 19:53:30 GMT -5
Do you use them as food? If so, do you freeze them first or what?
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Post by ccrobbins on Mar 21, 2006 11:09:23 GMT -5
Not yet. I just purchased a small bird cage and feed and water them. I have only had to care for 4 or 5 though. The winter is pretty lame for trapping them. This summer I will keep them alive until I get bored with it. Then I can kill and freeze them. I planned on letting the ones that I did not use go but my neighbors don't want the sparrows on the loose!
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Post by slicedodger on Mar 21, 2006 11:45:51 GMT -5
What do you think of "purging" them for a couple of days before "processing" them into the freezer. What I mean by purging is no feed only water. Maybe this would void their digestive systems of gunk. The whole idea is to come up with another supplemental food source and we have lots of Starlings here. Anyway, as I said in the original post, I have heard that they are a good food source and I wanted more input.
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Post by ccrobbins on Mar 22, 2006 17:16:31 GMT -5
I am not sure a starling can go that long without eating but I get the idea. I can't see why that would be bad, but it seems like it's not needed. Why not just feed them bird feed for a day or two. The same thing happens and you are keeping them nice and fat.
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Post by frootdog on Mar 22, 2006 18:49:38 GMT -5
The purging Idea is really not nessacary. The only thing you will accomplish by starving the bird foe 2 days is to decrease the nutritional value of the bird or worse yet starve it to death.
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jobbyjob
Junior Member
It's sad to be lonely in a crowd.
Posts: 173
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Post by jobbyjob on Jul 22, 2007 22:37:13 GMT -5
starlings are insect eaters and only eat plant material occasionally. so if you are planning on keeping them in captivity it may be more work than you are expecting. Although having them on hand would be really nice for food association with kbirds, merlins, and all those dickie bird hunters. I don't think gutting is necessary unless you are particularly worried about parasites.
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Post by uthawker on Jul 25, 2007 0:34:07 GMT -5
my sponcer and one of his former apprentices have large starling traps that cach hundreds of birds every year and just got started w/ my own, my sponcer has flow mirlins for over thirty years and thats all he feeds them. they arnt really hard to care for, they do need a box or some sort of shelter, water, and we feed them poultry feed pellets
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jobbyjob
Junior Member
It's sad to be lonely in a crowd.
Posts: 173
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Post by jobbyjob on Jul 30, 2007 1:32:47 GMT -5
if you dont mind me asking, who is your sponser? I would love to make contact with an old merlin hawker I knew in Utah. He was a professor at university as well. If he fits the bill please email me.
cb
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Post by uthawker on Jul 30, 2007 19:03:58 GMT -5
pm sent
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Minca
Full Member
Posts: 389
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Post by Minca on Aug 7, 2007 20:15:10 GMT -5
my original sponsor in Washington state had a big starling trap he was allowed to set on a dairy farm and that's what he fed his peregrine all during the molt. Any farm like that usually welcomes a chance to put a dent in their pest bird problem.
I usually remove the gizzard, intestines, crop contents, and feet, simply for peice of mind. I suppose if you're really concerned about the contents of their stomach and are willing to keep them alive a couple days, you could feed them something high protein that could be usable for the hawk like petstore meal worms, dusted with vitahawk. It would be the same as when people feed 'gutload' to crickets before feeding them to their lizards.
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