# Could sumac be dangerous?



## stephie (May 17, 2006)

Robin has been playing mommy with a pair of wooden eggs for a couple of days, and started making a nest by breaking off pieces of his millet stem and pulling out a feather... so cute!

I wanted to give him some sticks or something to help his construction efforts, but we're at work and all that's here is some sumac. Sumac isn't on the toxic list, and I'm sure this isn't poison sumac, but I was worried that since it's in the same family as poison sumac and poison ivy it could still pose some amount of danger. 

Does anyone know if it's ok for pigeons to have sumac sticks? Or should I just make him wait until we get home to get something else?


----------



## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

_How about some old reliable office shredded paper? They just love the stuff._


----------



## stephie (May 17, 2006)

Thanks little bird and Victor, I'll try some pipe cleaners when I can get a chance to go get them... until then, we definitely have a good supply of shredded paper here at work, I'll give that a try first.
Thanks!


----------



## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

*Pine Needles*

HI STEPHIE, I use dry pine needles the long kind, and I might add that the bird is not pulling its feathers to make a nest. The bird is into a molt at this time of year,so the feathers that s/he uses are old molted out feathers. .GEORGE


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

The family of plants that includes poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac are kinda' funny--they're not really poison. They do, however, contain a protein in the oil (Urushiol) that will bind to our cells for awhile. That's actually why the stuff is used to make furniture finishes in the far east, because it binds so well. The reason why some people break out so badly in a rash is because their bodies identify the foreign protein as a danger and then attack too energetically so the rash is actually a consequence of an overboard immune response and not the actual "poison" causing a problem. That said, I wouldn't worry about the sumac twigs.

Pidgey


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

You can also use white index xards and cut them in strips,  oh...how we spoil our babies.


----------



## stephie (May 17, 2006)

Two more good ideas Treesa & George, thanks! And thanks for that info Pidgey, guess I don't have to worry about the "poison" after all haha.

Thanks for your help everyone, I'll try to get a pic of Robbie and his little family once they're settled in. It's so cute the way he squats over the "eggs" and gets them all comfy under him. I'm constantly amazed by all the pigeon-things he knows how to do without ever being taught... I wonder what he must think though - "Hey, what are these things in my bed? I better sit on them!"

Now he's adopted one of his jingle-balls too, he's working on trying to make it fit under him with the eggs... it must be his musically gifted child


----------



## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

stephie said:


> Two more good ideas Treesa & George, thanks! And thanks for that info Pidgey, guess I don't have to worry about the "poison" after all haha.
> 
> Thanks for your help everyone, I'll try to get a pic of Robbie and his little family once they're settled in. It's so cute the way he squats over the "eggs" and gets them all comfy under him. I'm constantly amazed by all the pigeon-things he knows how to do without ever being taught... I wonder what he must think though - "Hey, what are these things in my bed? I better sit on them!"
> 
> *Now he's adopted one of his jingle-balls too, he's working on trying to make it fit under him with the eggs... it must be his musically gifted child *



ROFL...sure can relate, Stephie! I put TWO jingle bells near Squeaks while he was on his dummy egg. The next time I looked they had disappeard. Yep, under him BOTH were WITH dummy egg!


----------

