Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I do believe raw bamboo shoots contain a poison - I think you always have to cook it. I would be careful and check your bamboo and make sure it is and edible type. There are lots of different kinds of bamboo, not all are probably suitable for eating.

Nope not the same much worse

They are a year long menace in San Antonio exceedingly noisy crap everywhere they just plain suck. They fly around in huge flocks and dont park or walk near them when they roost at night. Eeew!

At least the feathers on starlings make good fishing flies.
My cats and dog wont even eat them (grackles) if they catch them.

Link for the sounds they make except yopu need to multiply time thousands.
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/537/ov ... ackle.aspx

Hey Janet have you looked here for a solution?
http://www.sportingguns.com.au/Rifles/HWM.html

I think mine are Common Grackles.
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/536/_/ ... ackle.aspx

An air rifle? You're kidding. You have no idea of the magnitude of the problem. Need a shotgun. Couple of shots every evening for a week would start to make a dent. The neighbors would complain though.

I did try boiling the bamboo several times and pouring off the water to leach any toxins. Maybe I just needed a few more times around. Mostly I just mow the stuff back now, and kick off the shoots that are in other flower beds. The shoots stop coming up mid-June.

It is mainly the taste with the bamboo. Blanching helps (covering a new shoot from light before harvesting it) I hear.

Worse then Starlings geez they must be really bad.

Janet - nothing compares to a flock of 50 parrots! And, of course, one wise guy always has to be learning to talk - I can't tell you how many times I have come to being called by a parrot...

No one warns you of these things...

Wow, parrots would be a pest in a flock.

I can just imagine what it would be like having a bird call you.

we have about 50 cockatoos camped in the yard at the moment. They can bite through branches about 1.5cm thick, all the time, from everything. that's when they are not eating the rubber seals from car windows

Eating the seals from your car! Dang I would take care of that problem

Boil them and feed them to the fish

We have almost no birds here. At worst they eat my strawberries and put holes in my peaches once in a while. You guys really do have big pest.

... got the same problem at the moment Jaymie.... all over everyones lawns, trees etc....

Buggers love the seeding/flowering trees around my place

This morning was a quiet day

Are they cockys or correllas(the birds that ate Broken Hill)? makes no difference really, just smaller birds. still vandalistic and noisy. It is only 6.30am now the the buggers have been screeching for yonks!

yikes.

I actually know quite a few bamboo guru's
But ya I found this link interesting hey
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/p ... boo20.html

I've always intended to give bamboo cloning a go. I'd heard it was hard, but didn't realise how hard. I'm glad I've read this, it will save me wasting my time .