Bedding for babies who eat everything?

[Ephyra]

Hi! I did post this in the geese section a week or so ago but figured I'd see if anyone here has any ideas...

I have a gosling who eats everything. Doesn't just chew/taste and spit out, actually ingests.. We just had a big scare with a rubberband that I dropped and in 1 second it was gone - fortunately he pooped it out in pieces!

Right now we're using puppy pads as bedding but they get gross so fast. I'm waking up a few times in the night to change it and even still, it gets too gross.

We've tried straw, pine shavings, pine pellets, paper pellets, paper towels, shelf liners, sand (but quickly decided against it due to the respiratory concerns), his food as bedding (read afterward this isn't good due to bacteria from poop etc). Going to try hay, but can't they get an impacted crop from eating too much of it? Also considering peat moss/potting soil but it seems they all have additives?

If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it so much! Is there maybe a way to teach him what he shouldn't eat? He will always eat his food or drink his water when I point at it which is pretty neat! But I don't know how I would tell NOT to eat certain things.

Thanks so much!

 

[Roo5]

I would get long strains of hay and offer grit.

 

[chickens really]

All my Ducklings eat a bit of the pine shavings without issues. You can provide Chick Grit to help with digestion of the pine shavings. Once you get it outside it won't be an issue.

 

[casportpony]

How old is it? I'm paranoid about them eating bedding too, so I use cheap Wal-Mart towels and do lots of laundry, lol.

And yes, they can get impacted crops and gizzards from eating too much straw, hay, or shavings.

 

[Kikiriki]

I used sand with chicks which was great. The sand acted like a kitty litter, helping to dry out the poo and encapsulate it. Eating it is fine as it small and acts like grit. I would also start providing other nibbles...meal worms, hemp seed, flax seed, finely chopped grass and clover, etc...

 

[silkie10]

Where do you live? How old is he? If he's old enough and it's warm outside you could just put him out on the lawn. I usually have my chicks in a crate with a heat lamp about a week after I get them. All you have to do to keep the bedding neat is move the crate every day to a clean clutch of grass

 

[llombardo]

Flax bedding. Can't say enough good stuff about it and if chickens eat it, it's actually not bad for them because it's made from the actual plant. I would think its the same across the board. I use it for my ducks and chickens.

"History of Flax – Flax is a bi-product from the make up of Linen and is a natural, vegetable based bedding. The actual bedding is exclusively made up from the base of the flax plant. It’s the central and wooden-like part of the flax stalk and is protected by its non-allergic fibre envelope. It has an absorption rate of 12x more than straw and 4x more than wood derived bedding, making it the performance bedding of choice."

 

[Fairview01]

Sounds like it might be hungry from not enough feed. They explore like that but usually reject non feed items the second time.