winnowers?

[Jayburd]

allrighty guys:
I've been looking into getting a seed winnower - but can anyone tell me what EXACTLY they do? I know the use air or something to separate seed from husks, but does it separate poop from seed? or does it actually clean the seed?

[Diane]

there is a pic of mine on the forum somewhere, will have a look see if I can find it.
Im the third owner of this winnower, mine is home made by someone starting out in birds and when he upgraded was given to someone else just starting out then was given to me, it works with the vacuum cleaner. The suction from the vac pulls husks and lots of other debris away from the seed.
I use it mainly before I give the leftover seed to either the quail or chickens. I suppose you could run your bought seed through before giving it to the birds, but I think if I had to do that I would be changing my supplier.
My pic is in this topic.
http://www.aussiefinchforum.net/viewtop ... wer#p16520

[Jayburd]

thanks Di,
but how does it know what's seed and what's debris? I was going to use it on all the wasted, spilt seed all over the floor near the cages, and when the aviary's up all the seed that falls into the catching tray beneath the feed tray.

[gomer]

The vacuum type suck the husk into the winnower receptacle, and let the heavy or good seed pass by and fall into a container below.The blowing type the one I prefer blow the husk to on side and let the good seed by as well.Most types will not separate all fecal mater , mealworms some nesting material etc. This may need to be sieved out.
Some people just use the wind to winnow, You could try this to get a better understanding of the concept. On a reasonable windy day pour your seed from one bucket or container into another below from a reasonable height. If the conditions are right and its done properly most of the good seed will fall into the bucket below,While the husk will be spread out all over the place This way may not be suitable for the average backyard.

[Jayburd]

ok thanks Gomer

[jusdeb]

My dad ( when he had finches ) use to wait for a nice breezy day , go out into the paddock and tip seed from container to another letting the wind carry away the husks ( of course us kids would hide just in case he asked us to help ) anyhoo my point Jay is maybe this method will do you while you decide on buying a winnower or not .

At $38.00 a bag ( 20 kilo )for peachface mix ( Avigrain )I may be heading out to the paddocks here to do the same .

[Diane]

As gomer said its the heavy stuff that falls and the husks and lighter stuff gets sucked into the vac. I have mine set just right now, if the volume of air is too much you would find everything sucked into the vac!
One advantage to the windy day is if you do the winnowing over a waste patch of ground, the husks become incorporated into the ground, any good seed that escapes could possibly turn into the growing plant providing more seed for the birds.

[cranberry]

I plan on making my own using a small electric fan motor to blow the husks away. I shall post details of the end result once it is done (probably in 5 years time - LOL!)

[gomer]

My winnower (Blower) is powered by a computer fan.