Feeding ground bone meal

[Rox]

I'm on a FB page "Wildlife in my Garden", predominantly South African but lots of other people from around the world who post photo's of various wildlife in their garden. It's a great page for seeing what Nature has to offer in our backyards.

A discussion was started about feeding crushed bone meal (from the butcher), to the more insectivorous and carnivorous birds. The bone meal is molded by hand into a ball, put in the freezer and then later offered to the birds who break down the ball. It is an excellent source of calcium.

This made me wonder if I could offer bone meal to my own birds as an additional calcium source. My only concern would be how to store it and prepare it to ensure that it is always 100% safe for my birds.

Any thoughts?

[lovezebs]

Rox
I never would have thought of that Roxanne.
I honestly don't know, but it is an intriguing idea.

My question would be, do birds in nature eat bones? I know that I've seen such birds as ravens, crows, and magpies, picking at bones, but I had always assumed that it was to get at some meat remnants or bits of bone marrow. I've heared that owls will eat a whole little creature and actually spit out the bones (?). I'm not sure how it works with the hunting birds like hawks, eagles and such.

When it comes to our little guys, I'm really not sure if it's something that would be beneficial or not. Hopefully someone on here will have an idea.

~Elana~

[Rox]

I googled a bit and I see the chicken industry does use it for egg laying, as a calcium source. Not much info about pet bird use though.

My concern would be how clean the bone meal is. Bits of meat etc included would be fine for the garden birds (I can picture the shrikes and robins going crazy for it) but I'm not convinced about the use of it for pet birds. But then again, perhaps the waxbills would love some meat ground up in there, as they feed insects only during the first week after hatching.

This is definitely something I need to look into more. It could be an incredibly cheap alternative source of feeding a calcium/protein mix for insectivorous birds. It's just keeping the bone meal 'fresh' while being fed is my concern...

[debbie276]

I have found a few sites that say it's fine but no real details, not sure it would be worth the effort. I did find this site that has an interesting article and lists other sources of calcium
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww22eii.htm

If you try it let us know how you do

[Rox]

debbie276 Thank you for that.

I have looked into it a bit more and have decided that unless I can find a dried, sterilized product suitable for birds, then I won't bother. Feeding fresh bone meal concerns me, as it will go off very quickly in summer and will attract more flies than I like. I'm sure the garden birds wouldn't mind one bit but I'm not prepared to take the chance with my own birds. You also get bone meal as a plant fertilizer but again, I am not convinced how clean or sterilized it would be for bird consumption.

I'm going to dig around some more to find clean dried bone meal and will let you know if I come up with anything.

[debbie276]

I think you made the right choice.
Please keep us updated
good luck

[Sally]

Intriguing idea. I agree that I'd be a bit cautious about using fresh bone meal, not sure it would be worth the effort either, but it could be a great source of calcium/protein for waxbills. Certainly worth looking into.

[Sally]

debbie276 Very interesting article, thanks for linking this. I tried to send an email to the author to find out where we might get ground bone meal that would be safe for finches, but apparently the website is out of date.

[lovezebs]

I wonder, has anyone ever tried to offer just fresh bones (?) to their birds, marrow and all, to see what they would do with them?

As mentioned above, I have seen birds picking at bones, but usually it's the Crow family, or different types of Gulls, or hunting birds.

In observing nature, has anyone noticed any of the smaller guys doing the same ?

~Elana~

[Sheather]

Bone meal is sold packaged as a powder in boxes as a fertilizer here, but it stinks and is badly dusty. I wouldn't let my pets eat it.

[Rox]

I also discussed this on the Aussie finch forum and our mates down under are of mixed review. Some completely against the use of animal product and some saying that bone meal is the best source of calcium you can get, depending on it's quality of course. One person even mentioned how wild Spice finches eat the dried bodies of toads in Queensland, so yes smaller birds do scavenge on road kill. Here is the link to the topic, it's quite interesting.

http://aussiefinchforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=18104

I'm looking into possibly dehydrating fresh bone meal, in order to serve it dry. While this doesn't sterilize, it's a start. Will give feedback once I get to that stage (need to find a cheap dehydrator first!)

[debbie276]

Very interesting read, thanks Roxanne.

I googled "Sterilized Bone Meal" and was amazed how many sources came up.

[Rox]

fetching Interesting that there is less chance of bacteria infection if fed raw vs dried. I honestly thought it would have been the other way around.

I was thinking of offering dried ground bone meal in tiny bits (as it comes off the saw) versus powdering it completely. Would this make any difference to absorption and would the smaller finches be able to break down the bits with their beak or would they swallow it whole? Nature doesn't offer powder and wild birds need to work for their meal normally.

I use bone meal often in the garden, it is a great fertilizer