Canola/rapeseed Plant Toxic Or Safe?

[**Liv** 0]

As most of you know i love giving my birds the most natural diet possible. Being alomost spring, fresh green food is plentiful and I have a "veggie patch" that is full of large weeds and growing budgie mix seeds etc that I feed the birds during breeding.

 

I am trying to research the different weeds to know which ones are safe and which ones are toxic as some have very good medicinal properties and can hold great micro nutrient and antioxidants for the birds that a normal seed diet cant give.

 

I have some canola growing among my "crop" that has come from the seed mix i used in summer. The canola is coming into seed now and has lots of pods on it. I am just wondering if the plant its self if safe to feed the birds?? Can i pull it up and give it to them as is, or is only part of the plant safe or is it best to toss it away as it may be toxic???

 

Thanks

[**KAZ** 0]

If the seed is Black & round, it’s probably what used to be called Rape & now has been changed to Canola…because of the connotations of the word “Rape”. It’s a member of the cabbage family, it’s pretty safe, it is very high in oil & if they ate large amounts it may be a problem, but I don’t think there’s much danger of that. Canaries love it…if it’s not round the only other seed that is black that I know is Niger, it’s a long thin seed, again it’s not a problem.

 

 

 

Found in another topic.

[**Liv** 0]

Thanks Kaz. I know the seed is safe... am wondering about the plant. can i give them the plant part as in, leaves, stems, roots, green seeds and pods etc...???

[Pearce 0]

Quoted.

 

Canola oil comes from the rape seed, which is part of the mustard family of plants. Rape is the most toxic of all food-oil plants. Like soy, rape is a weed. Insects will not eat it; it is deadly poisonous! The oil from the rape seed is a hundred times more toxic than soy oil.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Pearce

[**KAZ** 0]

Wow isnt it always the way...................differing information out there.

Thanks Pearce

[**Liv** 0]

Great. Thanks Pearce. I had a feeling it was toxic... but wanted to check as i had alot of trouble finding anything about the plant. There is plenty of information on the seed. In the bin the canola goes :question:

[nubbly5 0]

Quoted.

 

Canola oil comes from the rape seed, which is part of the mustard family of plants. Rape is the most toxic of all food-oil plants. Like soy, rape is a weed. Insects will not eat it; it is deadly poisonous! The oil from the rape seed is a hundred times more toxic than soy oil.

 

 

Not exactly true Pearce.

 

Canola has been BRED from rape. It is no longer considered the same as the original rape plant which yes... is toxic but not "look at it and die sort" of toxic. This is because the plant has been highly selected and now breeds true with virtually none of the erucic acid of the orginal rape seed. In fact scientists cross-bred plants to the point that virtually all the oil produced by canola plants is now oleic acid a monounsaturated fatty acid.

 

Even with the toxicity of rape people have been cooking with rapeseed oil for centuries (before the advent of Canola). Sure it was a bit nasty and at high temperatures vaporised a toxin that has been linked to lung cancer and ercic acid itself has been linked to heart lessions in lab animals BUT not like I said... "look at it and die" sort of toxicity.

 

And insects will MOST CERTAINLY eat canola. They love it and farmers spend lots of $ spraying canola for nasty little insect plant eaters like armyworm, cabbage seedpod weevil, cutworms etc etc.

 

Whether that means you can feed it to budgies in the plant form - I don't know. Sheep certainly seem to like it though........

[Pearce 0]

Its not my info as I said I quoted it from someone elses article.

[Chrysocome 0]

Rapeseed is most certainly present in a lot of budgie mixes (whether or not this is related to canola I do not know). From personal experience, budgies leave it on the bottom of the seed dish - I always assumed it was just because it was too small/hard for them to eat.

[**Liv** 0]

Thank you Nubbly, that is very interesting information.... :emoticon112:

[nubbly5 0]

Its not my info as I said I quoted it from someone elses article.

 

Yep I think I've seen it before in one of "THOSE" e-mails...... you know the ones that try to scare you with info that sounds like it might be real but is based on half truths. There was a huge "Toxic Canola Oil" hoax put around not that long ago and it says much the same as what you have quoted. But it was a hoax.

[Pearce 0]

http://www.bodyworx.com/canola_oil.html

http://www.tidesoflife.com/canola.htm

Edited August 26, 2009 by Pearce

[nubbly5 0]

Look further!

 

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp