Chickens are eating stucco siding on house.

[MeepBeep]

Are your birds provided a side of oyster shells? They might be pecking at it because they are in need of extra calcium, as one of the ingredients of stucco is 'lime' aka calcium carbonate...

 

[MicMaeT]

Just walked in the door from locking my "free range" girls up in their coop. My girls just started pecking at the stucco__ They have been running around out there for a year. They have enough food and calcium and there are no bugs under the stucco... i have no idea why all of a sudden they have taken notice of it. Dang! Now what?
I tried spraying some of my weed killing vinegar/salt/splashofDawn on the stucco and they still went for it, had to lock them up. Can't wait to show my husband when he gets home, *rolling my eyes.

 

[LynneSCZ]

My chickens just started pecking our stucco after we painted the house! Brand new paint job getting pecked & wrecked. Chickens will be re-homed if I can't solve problem.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My chickens just started pecking our stucco after we painted the house! Brand new paint job getting pecked & wrecked. Chickens will be re-homed if I can't solve problem.

Do you have a run? Lock 'em up. Or you can temporarily "fence" off the house to deter them. My chickens were picking the paint off their coop so I'm currently using chicken wire, bird netting and garden stakes to surround it with a lightweight fence. Hoping they'll just forget about it after a while and the fence can come down.

 

[FlyWheel]

Maybe they're telling you they hate stucco. I know I do.

Since more than you are observing this, may I offer a weird suggestion? It could be they are mistaking the bits of sand in the texture as bugs on the wall.

 

[LynneSCZ]

Do you have a run? Lock 'em up. Or you can temporarily "fence" off the house to deter them. My chickens were picking the paint off their coop so I'm currently using chicken wire, bird netting and garden stakes to surround it with a lightweight fence. Hoping they'll just forget about it after a while and the fence can come down.

Yes, my 2 Buff Orpingtons & 2 Black Silkies have a palatial redwood coop & totally protected run. But they still love to get out & free roam a bit. For now I am keeping them locked up most of the day hoping as you say they will forget the stucco! They get to roam about an hour before sunset & I water squirt them if they get near the house!

 

[Sp8ctre]

My chickens have been pecking at the stucco on my house and I found out the are really after the Styrofoam insulation underneath. Chickens seem to love Styrofoam!