My silly babies!
I just let them go out into the run yesterday for the first time. They're having a great time, a-peckin and a-scratchin. However....
...It appears that they are eating much much sand!
They're run is floored with sand, and they peck and peck and peck at it. I understand this is how they find bugs and other chicken delicacies, but I can see that they are picking up and swallowing the sand---lots of sand! Also, I floored the coop with newspaper once (I will *not* be doing that again) and so there's a few scraps of paper that made their way into the run. I saw two different chickens snap them up, then swallow, and the paper was no more.
Their food looks a lot like sand--they're still on starter feed. Could they be mistaking food for sand? How do I get them to stop eating sand? Will it ruin their stomachs?
Thanks!
I just let them go out into the run yesterday for the first time. They're having a great time, a-peckin and a-scratchin. However....
...It appears that they are eating much much sand!
They're run is floored with sand, and they peck and peck and peck at it. I understand this is how they find bugs and other chicken delicacies, but I can see that they are picking up and swallowing the sand---lots of sand! Also, I floored the coop with newspaper once (I will *not* be doing that again) and so there's a few scraps of paper that made their way into the run. I saw two different chickens snap them up, then swallow, and the paper was no more.
Their food looks a lot like sand--they're still on starter feed. Could they be mistaking food for sand? How do I get them to stop eating sand? Will it ruin their stomachs?
Thanks!