myth or fact?

[c is 4 cochin]

Ok, I am not familiar with pigeons. Someone told me that feeding uncooked rice to pigeons will cause the crop to bloat. The story I was told was, that the reason people aren't supposed to throw rice at weddings is because it will cause the crop to swell, thus harming the birds.

I am under the impression that rice on a hard surface might cause people to slip and fall. Also the mess the birds would make hanging around the areas is the real and true reason for places to ban rice throwing. I do know for fact that most restaurants have signs posted around their outdoor seating areas, asking patrons to please not feed the birds because they make a mess.

Getting back to the uncooked rice. Will it actually swell the crop and cause a blockage?

 

[rags57078]

Here is what Cornell has to say
In-case you don't know Cornell is one of the top research places in North America on birds


If birds eat uncooked rice, can it swell up in their throats and stomachs and kill them?
Lots of birds eat uncooked rice in the wild. Bobolinks, sometimes called rice birds, are a good example. While rice is okay for birds, many wedding parties now throw bird seed instead

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can read what Snopes has to say about it here.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp

Birds can safely eat rice, just like other grains. If you think about it, several other grains swell up when you soak them, just like rice.

 

[gunnarwordon]

I don't believe it......... never seen it, and never want to.....

 

[Lofty Dreams]

I have had some squeakers die because of food expanding in the crop.

 

[sourland]

MYTH!

 

[gunnarwordon]

I believe myth too.......

 

[FireTigeris]

Somebody better tell the birds that clean up the rice patties this pronto.

 

[OldGuy43]

For rice to swell it needs water. Where would the water come from? And whatever happened to all the dead pigeons that should have been laying around the entrance to churches?

It's a myth.

 

[braindead101]

It isn't that they can't eat the rice as much as the abundance of it at a wedding. The birds tend to eat so much of it that when they do get water it CAN cause a problem, not that it will.