Is long grass a problem?

[rIrs roost]

Speaking from recent experience, long grass can be a problem. I just last month lost my favorite EE to a crop/gizzard impaction caused by long grass. On necropsy the vet said she had about a baseball size ball of long grass clogging up her crop and gizzard. And I have both oyster shell and granite grit out free choice and throw the occasional handful out for them to encounter while scratching around our run. If I had caught it earlier, maybe we could have saved her, but we didn't catch it soon enough. I don't even know where she got the grass. Either she ate some of the orchard grass hay I was using for coop floor bedding, or she managed to get some of the long grass growing along the outside of the run fence (although it doesn't get through the fence, so no idea how she would have gotten a baseball size worth or that). However, I'm guessing how likely long grass is to be a problem depends on the individual chicken. My girls are in a run, eat mostly a layer pellet diet with occasional greens/fruit/veggie scraps. They don't get a lot of forage and the vet said that my EE's gizzard wall was thin. As the vet explained it, since the gizzard is a muscle, it doesn't get a lot of "work" digesting layer feed and can weaken and have trouble grinding fibrous food if they aren't raised on or used to it. So it may be less of a problem if your chickens free range regularly, but don't think it can't happen. My vet said our EE was the third case he has seen this spring and that both the other hens died as well.

Thank you so much. I'll have to watch my girls and keep them out of our field. That's why I love this site. People are willing to share the experience and knowledge.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I would imagine loose long grass like the above bird got into & growing grass that they could nip off would be entirely different.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A couple of things. Grit works in the gizzard, not the crop. Grit has nothing to do with an impacted crop. The crop is a long way in front of the gizzard in the chicken’s digestive system. Grit can help prevent an impacted gizzard. There is a difference in “can help prevent” versus “absolutely totally completely each and every time 100% prevent” but it is very important that they have grit if they are eating things that need to get ground up, like grass. It helps a lot.

It is possible that long grass can form a ball in either the crop of gizzard and block the exit, yet chickens evolved to forage. For long grass to form a ball you have to have enough long grass to make a ball. If you watch a chicken forage in long grass that is still growing, they will occasionally pluck off a fairly long strand, but the majority they break off are pretty short pieces. It is highly unlikely that they will get enough to cause a blockage. If you cut long grass and throw that into the run, they cannot break it up and will eat a lot of long strands. Lots of people do that and still seldom have a problem, but the risk goes up if they are eating cut long grass. If it is mulched so it is shorter the risk goes down a lot.

AI have no idea where Animalgrl’s chicken got the long grass that caused her problem or, as the vet implied, a big part of it might have been a weakness in her system. It could have been the orchard grass hay but several people feed alfalfa hay as a good nutrient source. I use hay in my nests and don’t have a problem. Many people use hay as bedding. With the number of chickens we have on this forum it is bound to happen. That vet said it was the third case he had seen this spring. Impacted crops and impacted gizzards do happen, but they are not really that common for most of us. Thanks for the reality check, Animalgrl.

I’m personally not going to worry about my chickens foraging in long grass. On the farm where I grew up our chickens foraged on long grass. Mine here do also. I’ve never seen an impacted crop or an impacted gizzard. For those that throw them cut grass I suggest either cut it often so the strands don’t get real long or run over it a few times with the mower to chop it up more. That’s a reasonable precaution.

 

[animalgrl]

Quote:
I don't really know where my sweet little Penny got the grass either. At the time I was using Orchard grass (hay) in my coop and nest boxes (I have sine switched to pine shavings in my nest boxes). She really liked to arrange the nest before laying, so my best guess is that she was ingesting the orchard grass as she did so and in time it built up, formed a ball, and got stuck in her crop and gizzard. No grass grows in the run, and I honestly don't think she could have reached enough of the long grass growing outside of the run to make a ball the size the vet said she had in her crop. Poor thing was really trying to live, too, but after a few days of supportive care at the vet without any decrease in crop size, it became apparent that fluid was coming up from her crop and she was likely to aspirate and vet said chances of surviving crop surgery were 50/50 at best, so we decided to euthanize. I agree with your comments that it probably is not a very common occurrence, especially in chickens who forage regularly. And I'm definitely not saying that people shouldn't let their chickens forage in long grass. My point in posting my experience is just to let people know that it isn't a myth, it can happen, and to pass on the info my vet gave me (he's strictly and avian vet and sees a good number of chickens) in case it might help someone else make the best decision for their birds.

 

[ISA brown hen]

I've started breaking up the grass and scraps I throw to then just in case. But Ridgerunner has a good point that foraging chickens don't tend to eat massive pieces of grass - they also don't eat that much at once before moving on to another type of tasty morsel which provably helps the grass to be broken up and not get tied together inside the chickens digestive system

 

[Diannastarr]

• animalgrl

thank you so much for writing about your experience im so sorry you lost your EE hen, gosh : ( i have been concerned about this same problem after reading an article on line a wile back that stated this very same information as you have written about in your experience , i have been concerned after wanting to grow barley greens for my hens for the live food nutrition but after seeing people on you tube growing barley grass that looked to me to be to long to feed to chickens, horses maybe but not chickens, and knowing the dangers of long grass after reading that info on line & now reading about your lost EE hen , im concerned that others who are trying to do their best by their chickens & have no idea that feeding such long grass is not advisable plus i still want to grow barley greens for my hens but now i know i would never feed barley greens over an inch long to my hens & I cant THANK YOU enough for writing about your experience you may have saved many other hens & have answered my concerns , thanks & take care Dianna

 

[TarantuLady]

One point I haven't seen mentioned is that long grass still attached to the ground is usually not a problem, as it was pointed out that the chickens will rip off small bits to eat more often than eating the whole blade of grass. On the other hand, some people will throw trimmings into the chicken run, and that's where long grass becomes a problem, IMO. My RIRs forage on VERY long grass and other plants near a wetland...no problems. Then, I threw some trimmings into the run. Didn't think about how they wouldn't be able to rip bits off unless the chicken was standing on the other end of the grass...to provide the tension needed to tear the leaves. The point: within a week of throwing in the trimmings, I had a sick hen with an impacted crop. She died. Just my two cents re: what I've noticed, for what it's worth.

 

[Diannastarr]

hi TarantuLady
o goodness so very sorry to hear about your lost hen Gosh

& you are so right about how the hens do rip off small pieces of grass , mine are free rangers & we have tons of long grass in the back acres after my husband has just died & so it all still needs to be cut back & yes the long grass trimmings is what can harm our hens , so sorry for your loss gosh thats the worst , but thank you for writing about your experience & input all
you say will help save others hens im sure

thank you for telling us all, take care Dianna

 

[ssholmes]

We live where free ranging is not a safe option so we make sure our girls receive some green vegetation on a daily basis; most often grass. We are organic so harvesting anywhere on our lot is not a problem.

When they were just over 3 months old I noticed they were having a difficult time getting the longer pieces of grass down. It had not dawned on me when ranging the grass is rooted and gives resistance so the grass breaks at a convenient length for them to get down.

Since that time I have been harvesting the grass and then cutting into 1 to 1 1/2" lengths allowing it to drop to the ground in the run. They have no problems with the length and love the fresh grass. A couple of example photos:

 

[rebrascora]

I've had a couple of problems with grass. I feed the lawn cuttings to my horses and the hens and horses coexist. I let the grass get quite long before I mow and I had a couple of hens get sick and die. When I opened them up their gizzards were packed solid with fibrous material and it certainly appeared that they starved as a result of the blockage caused. My chickens free range and that was two years ago. I have been careful to avoid them having access to long grass cuttings since then, however recently, I got some bantam pekins (cochins) and I am guessing that they had not had access to grass before because they gorged themselves on it as soon as they were allowed out and two of them had scarily huge pendulous crops for a week or so and smelled a bit sour but thankfully recovered.

So I think there are two possible problems with grass for chickens..... feeding long strands that have been cut rather than picked by the birds and allowing them onto a lot of rich grass when they haven't had access before..... that is my experience. I agree that it is more a question of increasing the risk to them though rather than it being outright detrimental.... there are a lot of great nutrients in grass, so benefits probably far outweigh the risks, but being aware of the problems it causes can put you in a position to minimise the risk.... ie cutting the grass shorter if you are cutting it for them or limiting access to rich grass for short periods until they get used to it and stop acting like kids in a sweetie shop!