Baby Chicks Eating Pine Shavings

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

We just got a big bag of TSC pine shavings for our 1 week old to 2 week old chicks. Some of the chicks are really eating the pine shavings. Is this something we need to be worried about? Or is it okay?

 

[janinepeters]

I've often seen mine eat little bits of shavings every now and then, and they are fine. But if you see one eating a lot of shavings, that's not okay. If any of them are eating a lot of shavings, I would cover the shavings with paper towel for a day or two, until you are sure they know what and where their food is. Once they are in the habit of eating their feed, they will eat mostly that, and then you can remove the paper towel and put them back on shavings. Make sure you have more than enough feeder space for all chicks to eat at once, so that no one will eat shavings because they cannot get to the food.

 

[OttawaDiveGirl]

NO!!! Take the chicks from the shavings! Not safe. I had my new chicks for 1 hour and they were happy and basking under their heat lamp and one began throwing it's head back and flapping crazily. It was gasping. I tried to see anything in it's throat. I couldn't see a thing. It was salivating and bubbling like crazy. I tried to rub it but it died. My 7 year old son almost started to cry. I was really upset. We just got these babies, we never had chickens before. I called my supplier and she told me it happens occasionally, that it happened to her also and recommended using towels as being babies they are 'stupid' and will eat anything without realizing the danger. Don't take the chance with pine shavings, it's too horrible watching them die and being helpless to save them.

 

[debid]

Here's my 'dumb' question.. What is a crop? What do you mean "I watch their crop"?

The crop is the first stop in a chicken's digestive tract. Imagine a balloon that gets filled with food and then slowly empties. This allows them to eat a lot when food is available. The crop is on the chest and will bulge out when filled. It should appear full after eating and then gradually get smaller until they eat again.

In this picture, the dark chick has a full crop:

 

[crazylilchick01]

DEFINITELY NOT OKAY!!! they could choke! I had a friend who had this problem and her poor chick died by choking on them! I would suggest taking shredded up newspaper and using that as bedding instead!

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

Okay, thanks guys! I will put paper towels over the shavings right away! I definitely don't want my babies to get choked on pine shavings.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I've brooded I don't know how many hundreds of chicks and poults directly on pine shavings straight out of the hatchery box or my incubator. Never had one die from eating them.

They will of course almost immediately start scratching through them and pecking at bits of this and that, but that is normal behavior. So long as they have fresh starter feed and they know where it's at that is what they will eat.

 

[janinepeters]

One of my friend's chicks has an obstructed crop, she thinks from eating shavings. The chick is a bantam who might have had trouble reaching the food amongst the other (some full sized) birds, so I do think it's a good idea to be sure they all know where and what the food is, can get to it, and are in the habit of eating it, before putting them on shavings. Glad to hear you are putting the paper towels down. It's a simple precaution that could save you some grief.

 

[RonC]

I bought the large shavings from TSC where my chicks came from. They were on pine shavings at the store. The first couple of days I had them they were in a bathtub on towels. About 2 days afterwards they were in their brooder on the shavings. I would see them pecking at them and sometimes carrying them around.That's how they explore and learn what is food and what is not. They are going on 14 weeks old now with no problems. I would guess that some chicks would eat some and occasionally could have a problem.

 

[jak2002003]

Chicks can be strange animals! Mine loved eating the paper towels. At first I thought they were just ripping them up, but as I watched they were eating down big pieces of towel. Some times they ate all the towels in their brooder! They never got sick, but I was not happy about it, so I put them on earth from my garden. It worked really well and the earth seemed to absorb all the smell. I was so happy when they could go into the run outside!