Why is my chicken eating mass quantities of sand?

[Scifisarah]

I have had this chicken for over a year now. I know how grit works, and have seen them picking the right size pebbles and eating them, but this is different. As soon as I opened the coop door this morning, she bolted out like she is starving and starts scooping up big gulps of sand. Her poop is almost pure sand. She has access to food inside and outside and there are only two other chickens with her any they are not keeping her from the food. I put food right in front of her face, but she kept eating the sand. I am worried this can't be good for her digestive system or vitamin absorption. This has been going on at least a few weeks. Any ideas?

 

[chooks4life]

There are some diseases of various species that provoke dirt or sand or clay eating, but with clay and dirt eating at least you know it's generally done in seeking nutrients in the case of dirt, or detoxification in the case of clay, generally speaking.

Sand eating's strange, not easily explainable, and is generally fatal unless stopped. I'd probably cage her to stop her from doing that to start with, personally.

Are there any more details on her, her diet, her breed, her history, anything else you can provide to help pinpoint possible causes?

Can you cage her separately overnight and check her crop in the morning to see if it's emptied properly?

And it would also help to know how her abdomen is, if you can palpate it gently and see if she feels bloated, very empty, whatever.

Also, if you feel her keel or breastbone, it'd be helpful to know if she's normal weight or not.

Is she laying, or has she been broody recently?

When was the last time she was wormed, and do you know if that wormers' been found to be ineffective or shown worms developing resistance?

May be easiest if you just quote what I wrote and use a different text color to answer each question, if you do so, it should help.

Best wishes, hope she gets help in time.