Would these baby pine cones be ok to give Percy?

MomtoPercy

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I found a clump of pine trees at a local primary school( yay, no chemicals, etc!) And picked this little branch yesterday. I know pine WOOD and CONES are safe but what about the needles and these baby cones? I'm thinking these little cute baby cones would make great toy parts! :).

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Or even a bit of natural enrichment like with the bottle brush branch Percy just pounced on and devoured! BTW, anybody know how much bottle brush I can give him? I brought home two smallish branches and he polished the first one in a single sitting. The second branch is bigger with much more of those little bud thingies on it and I'm worried of overdosing the boy.
 

lucy1

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Whilst not actually poisonous, there are issues with fresh pine sap, though I'm afraid my laptop is officially fubar so I can't find the relevant references and will happily be corrected of anyone can show otherwise! We all know cured/ dried pine is fab for our fids but the fresh stuff is a bit icky.

Take a pinch of needles and crush and smooch them in your hands- you really don't want that sappy sticky residue in your birds beak and spread on their feathers. And have you ever touched fresh pine sap oozed from a freshly cut pine branch? Good luck getting that off your fingers, never mind feathers!

Having said that we all love natural stuff. If dried mature cones can be given as foraging then no reason these baby cones can't be dried out in a long cool oven bake and given as treats/ foraging.

I collected a load of Christmas trees last January. After a couple of months drying in my shed the needles dropped off easy and I had a load of free toy wood for my birds so natural pine is brill, it just needs to dry out first :)
 

Kiwibird

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I cannot imagine the species of pine tree where you are being that different than the ones over here (toxicity speaking) and the ones here are harmless. Though you do need to bake them to kill any bugs or other natty things.
 
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MomtoPercy

MomtoPercy

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Oh how silly of me! Of course the needles are sappy! Duh!! ;)

I'm going to collect more of the mini cones and bake them like with the bigger ones. Then I will see what I can do, toy wise :)

Thanks guys :)
 

lucy1

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It's not that they're toxic, more the fresh sticky sap getting clogged everywhere. Tree sap is a real ***** to get off anything it touches :(

I'm sure I've read that the needles are not good. Something in them (possibly phenols?) same as the berries which are toxic. I possibly have the info saved at work but am not back in to check until Saturday morning.

Dried wood and cones are good, it's just the needles and sap. Percy will love the dried cones. I'm going to check the trees at work and pilfer some cones before the squirrels get them this year! :)
 
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lucy1

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And please post pics of your baby-cone toy creations. I'm not too imaginative or talented with toys, but enjoy doing a rough bigger macaw size version of the fab toys you make! :) x
 

javi

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Agreed, fry them first. Once they have dried and aged then it is time to get them ready to give to birds. First throw them into a pot water and boil. They will close up real tight. Then take them out of water. Lay aluminum foil onto a cookie sheet and lay out all the cones on there. Then bake them at about 250 degrees until they open up completely. This will remove any left over sap. Then store and give to your birds to destroy. My birds love them, unfortunately pine trees dont grow in the heat of deep south Texas so I ordered about 100 on ebay and spent an entire day at the oven getting them all safe
 

Birdbrain91

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I've never given them to my birds but I think I will start now I know how to clean them. I live in Colorado and they are on just about every corner.
 

javi

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My birds love them even small budgies I have fostered enjoyed destroying them. Plus when you are boiling and baking them your house smells great
 

4dugnlee

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Glad I came across this thread! As a newer bird owner, I never would have thought of pine cones. And we have them all around us!! Thanks!!!
 

Mekaisto

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These are casuarina nuts! Black cockatoos LOVE them!

They're perfectly safe for parrots - I feed them fresh, but as Amazons and casuarina don't cohabitate in the wild I'd probably prepare them first.
 
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MomtoPercy

MomtoPercy

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These are casuarina nuts! Black cockatoos LOVE them!

They're perfectly safe for parrots - I feed them fresh, but as Amazons and casuarina don't cohabitate in the wild I'd probably prepare them first.

:eek: OMW, you're right!! I had never even heard the word but when I read your comment, I googled it and everything I found, confirms that I have these "nuts" here and not pine cones like I thought!! I did think it was weird that all the other pine trees I see are sporting proper cones and even dropping them already but not this patch of trees:eek: How fabulous to find such a unique source of food/foraging/play without even realising it!!

Off to do some more googling :). Thanks so much for the heads up!
 
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MomtoPercy

MomtoPercy

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OK, I went over google with a eagle eye and I am 100% sure that what have here are in fact Casuari nuts. Yay!!

What I couldn't find was info on how to know when they're ready to give to Percy? I see there are greenish coloured nuts on the tree and brown nuts. I'm thinking the brown nuts are the ones I want. However, the day after I took this pic, the little nuts "opened up" in these tiny slits and a bunch of little seeds fell out (seed attached ti a little papery wing thingy) - is this too late to give them? And do I have to bake these like with normal pine cones? Mekaisto, please share insights you have?
 

Mekaisto

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I give them as soon as they turn brown to my 'toos, they crunch them up and pluck all the seeds out haha. I don't think there's such a thing as 'too late', they won't have much nutritional value once the seeds are out, but they would still make fun little toys :)
You shouldn't need to bake them as they don't contain sap, but you could boil them quickly to kill off any insects or bacteria, if you're worried about that. I have never fed them to Amazons, purely because I have never had amazons and casuarina at the same time, but maybe Google could help out there?

I've never heard of the green casuarina nuts being toxic to birds, I just don't feed them out simply because they're softer, so aren't as fun for the birds to chew on.
 
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my_baby_Tiki

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So just to clarify, they can eat pine needles ONLY if they're boiled or baked. Just wondering cause the research I've done has given me mixed messages.:34:
 

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