Hot dinner date with the birds

FOR a long time I’ve suspected birds have a totally different sense of taste to people or other mammals.

I keep hens and their diet is augmented by kitchen scraps and garden left-overs. I also grow some pretty vicious chillies in my greenhouse and the hens love them. But if a small piece of chilli ended up in the dog’s bowl he wouldn’t speak to me for a week.

My suspicion was confirmed the other day when I came across an obscure piece of scientific research confirming that birds are immune to the burning effect of capsaicin, the chemical that makes chillies hot. The degree of hotness is measured in Scoville Units.