Patent Application
20230413859
The present invention is directed toward cold-extruded nutritional feed products for wild songbirds.
The nutritional and dietary needs of wild songbirds are significantly different than caged birds. Songbirds who live outdoors need a higher level of fat than indoor caged birds. The fat provides energy for the high activity level of the wild birds. In cold temperatures fat provides energy necessary for shivering, which wild birds do to stay warm for survival. For example, a black-cap chickadee weighs less than half an ounce, and can maintain a body temperature of 100° F., even when ambient air temperature is 0° F. Wild birds inherently have a higher metabolism than indoor, pet songbirds. Caged birds need less fat in their diet since they have less activity.
Fat is also essential for coloration of wild songbird feathers, which helps attract a mate when the bird matures. Also, young birds need fats to grow strong feathers for proper flight and effective insulation during cold temperatures.
Fat in bird feed also improves the palatability of the feed, making the feed more appetizing to the wild birds.
However, high fat-content feed is relatively soft, and thus difficult to handle. Such feed also may breakdown in higher temperatures and be washed away or dissolved by heavy rain.
Therefore, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of a feed product, morsel, or nugget having an outer edible shell and a high-fat inner core for feeding wild songbirds.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of a high-fat content food product for wild birds having an edible protective coating.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of a cold extruded wild bird feed morsel with high nutritional value.
Yet another objective of the present invention is the provision of wild bird feed product which is cold extruded to maintain and preserve sugar profiles naturally found in the feed ingredients.
Still another objective of the present invention is a provision of a two layer feed product for wild birds which is formed without drying the product.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of a wild bird food product having an edible outer shell to provide structural strength to the product, and a soft inner core of high-fat material to provide nutritional energy for the birds.
These and other objectives become apparent from the following description of the invention.
The wild bird feed product, morsel or nugget of the present invention is formed by cold co-extrusion so as to have an inner core surrounded by an outer shell. Both the inner core and the outer shell are edible by the wild birds. The inner core contains high-fat material to provide nutritional nourishment and energy for the bird, while the outer shell provides structural strength, and is dry to the touch for easy handling. The cold extrusion process maintains the natural sugars in the soft fat material. The food product can be used outdoors, while maintaining structural integrity in high temperatures and wet conditions, while retaining the soft inner core in cold temperatures. The product can be formed in various shapes, including rectangular blocks, and cylinders. The product includes high-fat, protein, and sugar content, as well as other nutritional supplements.
The wild songbird feed product is generally in the form of a nugget or product 10. The product can take various shapes, all of which include an inner core 12 and an outer shell 14. The core 12 and the shell 14 are both edible by the bird. The core 12 and outer shell 14 may each be made with various ingredients to create formulations that attract different varieties of birds. Preferably, the core 12 and shell 14 use different ingredients, at least in part, so as to have two different flavors, both of which are attractive to wild songbirds.
The core 12 and the shell 14 of the feed product 10 can both include fat, which provides energy for the bird. The core 12 has a higher fat level than the shell 14, such that the core is relatively soft, regardless of the ambient temperature. The shell 14 encapsulates the core 12 and is relatively firm or hard for easy handling. The shell 14 provides a weather resistant coating for the core 12. Thus, the shell 14 can withstand high and low ambient temperatures, as well as rain and snow. The hard shell 14 allows a user to place the feed product in desired locations, without touching the soft and/or sticky inner core 12. The shell 14 provides structural strength to support the high fat material in the core 12, which is naturally very soft and has limited structural integrity.
The formulations for the core 12 and the shell 14 may vary between different feed products 10, so as to attract varieties of species of birds, such as insectivores, granivores, omnivores, carnivores, and soft billed birds. The ingredients for the core 12 and the shell 14 may include grains, such as corn, oats, rye, wheat, and nuts, such as peanuts and other tree nuts, fats, including vegetable and animal fats, vegetable oils, fruits, milo, seeds, such as millet, sunflowers, safflowers, canary, caraway, flax, rape and nyjer, peanut butter, jelly, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and other supplements. Also, mold inhibitors can be included in the formulations to extend the useful life of the feed product 10.
Preferably, the feed product 10 is manufactured by cold co-extrusion of the inner core 12 and the outer shell 14, at or near room temperatures. Cold extrusion may include forward, backward, and lateral extrusion, with forward extrusion being preferred. The cold extrusion process allows the starting material, in the form of a billet or slug, to be at room temperature, for flow through the co-extensive extrusion inner and outer tubes. The cold extrusion process maintains the temperature of the material below its re-crystallization temperature, and eliminates conversion of natural sugars in the feed ingredients. Also, with cold extrusion, drying of the finished product is not necessary. The cold extrusion process also eliminates the use of water, and thereby eliminates or minimizes mold issues, which can be present in extrusion processes which utilize water.
The cold extrusion process may produce various shapes for the feed product 10, As shown in
The cold extrusion process thus yields a wild songbird feed product 10 which is high in fat content, sugar content, protein content and other nutritional supplements. The product or nugget 10 is also easy to handle and weather resistant. The product 10 can be formulated to attract various species of birds. Wild birds more readily accept these cold extruded products 10 due to the soft nature of the finished product.
Examples of ingredients for the core 12 and the shell 14 are provided in the following tables, wherein various ingredients for the inner core are listed in Examples 1-3, and various ingredients for the outer shell are listed in Examples 4-7. The inner cores and outer shells can be combined from any of the examples, and other variations of these formulations.
Product 10 can also be formulated for poultry consumption. Poultry diet should be high in fat content, to allow the birds metabolism to absorb fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. The nutritional nuggets 10 are particularly suitable for free range poultry, such as chickens, which are not caged or housed indoors for a majority of their lives. Birds raised primarily outdoors have higher metabolism and nutritional needs that caged or permanently housed birds, similar to wild birds compared to indoor pet birds.
The invention has been shown and described above with the preferred embodiments, and it is understood that many modifications, substitutions, and additions may be made which are within the intended spirit and scope of the invention. From the foregoing, it can be seen that the present invention accomplishes at least all of its stated objectives.
