Hot pepper and ducks

[veronicasmom]

Before I spend a ton of time trying to find this online, I thought I would come here and see if anybody knows anything about this. I read one time that you can use hot pepper or peppers in birdseed to keep the squirrels away. Apparently the birds cannot taste it and it does not hurt them. Does anyone know if this is the same for ducks. My goats keep stealing the duck food, and they are as wide as they are tall. I thought if it is safe for ducks I could throw some hot pepper seeds in their food in that would fix my goat boys! I love them very much, but they are such pigs and I do not know how to keep them out of the food. They find a way around everything we've done. So, if anyone has any idea if this would work and it would be completely safe for my ducks, Then I'd appreciate hearing about it. Thanks.

 

[holm25]

Yeah that would work our ducks eat hot pepper all the time and the hot peppers made our pigs squeal.

 

[hennible]

Very interesting thanks for sharing

 

[veronicasmom]

Oh I don't want to make my goats squeal. Just want to keep them out of the duck food. I read that birds don't have taste buds and that's why the hot peppers don't bother them. I just need to make sure that ducks don't! But maybe I'll try just a little

 

[hennible]

20-30 taste buds apparently

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

The tastebuds do not sense spiciness... it's actually a pain sensation picked up by the nerves, not the tastebuds. Consider this: hot peppers can chemically burn your skin when you are handling them. Ever chopped a bunch of jalepenos without gloves and get sores? And this: it really really hurts if you forget you've been handling hot peppers and rub your eyes... even though your eyes don't have taste buds, it still hurts like crazy. So the fact that birds have few taste buds compared to other animals would be irrelevant when it comes to Veronicasmom's question.

Without doing any further research, my guess would be that it has more to do with the mucus membranes in the mouth... which might explain why a pig would squeal and a duck would be able to swallow.... fewer mucus membranes in a beak/bill than in a mouth? But how does it feel going through the rest of the digestive tract for a bird? I don't know.

I don't know if it's safe for birds to eat hot peppers, but I wouldn't feed my ducks something that can give my skin caustic burns. Every chili or hot pepper is different, but some of them can get pretty dang hot.

http://ishti.hubpages.com/hub/Did-you-know-that-spicy-is-not-a-taste

 

[hennible]

Sounds like common sense but it sure when're over my head, thanks for pointing that out Tracylovesducks...

 

[veronicasmom]

I was not going to cut up the actual peppers them selves. I was thinking of just sprinkling in some of the hot pepper seeds, like the kind you find at a pizzeria. The ones that they have on the table for you to put on your pizza. I was thinking that they would be a deterrent to the goats, without possibly harming the ducks. I typically use those hot pepper seeds in many of my dishes, and frequently crush them between my fingers. It's not the same as cutting up a jalapeno. So maybe it wasn't a good idea, but I am still trying to research it.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

Cool, I'm curious to hear what you find out.

 

[needlessjunk]

Omg, if it could solve keeping my dogs out of the duck food it would be amazing!