HELP! my chickens are eating there wood shavings in the coop!

[peep417]

They are eating the wood shavings in the coop, I know that can hurt them but how bad? How do I stop them??? My mother was at the store so I asked her to please by some shavings. But she didn't have time to go to orchlens to get the stuff we normally buy so she went to nixa hard warestore and bought a diferant kind. THE shavings are pretty small and now my chickens are eating it!!! hElP!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

It is natural for them to pick through the bedding and it can often appear they are eating the bedding when they are not - even ingesting some bedding is not necessarily going to have an adverse effect on their health. Unless they are actively just standing there and gobbling down piece after piece of bedding I would not worry.

 

[MeepBeep]

Give them plenty of real food (and fresh water) offerings and they will be fine... They are smart enough to know that they should eat the food over the wood chips and they will limit eating the wood to exploration and picking out the crumbles of real food they dropped in there, it's perfectly natural...

 

[Eggcessive]

New baby chicks can commonly eat pine shavings until they understand what their food looks like. Many people use paper towel in brooders for a few days to a week, and place chick crumbles on the paper towel as well as in the feeders to get them used to finding food. Of course, if your chicks are older they should know how to distinguish food from shavings. They will eat shavings if their feeders are empty for any length of time.

 

[peep417]

I don't own baby chicks

 

[skyefry]

It is natural for them to pick through the bedding and it can often appear they are eating the bedding when they are not - even ingesting some bedding is not necessarily going to have an adverse effect on their health. Unless they are actively just standing there and gobbling down piece after piece of bedding I would not worry.

what if they are doing this? I have some pullets that started this and I am not sure what to do.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

what if they are doing this? I have some pullets that started this and I am not sure what to do.

You have a reply on Your Thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pullets-eating-wood-shavings.1581669/#post-26871615