Rice or not?

[Kota Mitera]

We have all know that you do not throw rice at weddings anymore (like since the 60's) because birds will eat the rice and explode when all the ingested rice expands. Some time back I was watching the golden rice episode of "A Chef's Life " and watching birds eat the rice, and birds could take out a whole field of rice. Ummm, interesting. I searched for experts (ornithologists) to confirm this and I discovered that this is another urban myth, started by one if the newspaper advice columnists. I use rice in my scratch mix (black soldier fly larvae, cracked corn, cheerios or oatmeal and rice.) I put rice in our wild bird seed. I have been doing this for some time. No exploded chickens, no exploded wild birds.

 

[azygous]

Yes, it's a pretty well known urban legend with no basis in fact. But it's always fun to test it yourself to verify it.

Quite a number of years ago, a friend gave me a twenty pound sack of weevil infested rice. It was white rice, therefore pretty devoid of nutrition. I decided to share it with the wild turkeys instead of giving some to my chickens.

I broadcast the rice over several acres. Within a week, it had all disappeared. I saw turkey footprints so knew the turkeys had eaten most of it.

There was no evidence of any gruesome turkey explosions.

 

[Kota Mitera]

Anyone can google this subject! There are many sites that confirm this ... I do apologize for the grammatical error in my opening. I was so excited that I forgot to check what I typed. But thank you for your comment.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The reason to not throw rice at weddings is that it is a falling hazard. Small hard roundish things can cause people to slip and fall if it is on a hard surface. If you are on grass it's not an issue.