Chick eating styrofoam

[dsyd]

Hello,
I just hatched my first chick the other day in an incubator made out of styrofoam. Yesterday it started pecking the walls and ate some (not sure how many, but I saw it eat at least one) of the styrofoam balls. The balls are about 1-1.5mm thick. Should I be concerned? Will it block the digestive system? Is there anything I could do if so? (Like how you can empty the crop of a fully grown chicken.)

Thanks,
Daniel

 

[WriterofWords]

Mine never seemed to suffer for all the styrofoam they ate. Not sure what to say there, someone will know though.

 

[Bandana]

Not sure what that would do, but maybe you could give it a drop of olive oil for good measure. Not more than one drop, though. Make sure it's drinking water.

 

[dsyd]

Thanks WriterofWords and Bandana

.

 

[WriterofWords]

There was another thread on here quite awhile back with the same question. It had some great info on it but I can't find it. Maybe someone will have the link for it.

 

[Justino]

mine have pecked a hole in a huge cooler and theyre still kickin and are 8years old now

so yeah, should be ok

 

[Matt A NC]

This is why I get the chicks out of the incubator as soon as they are dry and fluffy. Either that or keep in dark in the room that in bator is in.

4 years ago I tried to leave them in there as the rest hatched. They are supposed to be able to go 72 hours without eating or drinking after they hatch. I didn't want to lose the humidity for the rest of the hatch. Well I ended up with the hole that was almost all the way through the side of the bottom half of the bator. All the chicks were fine with no problems. I even still have 2 of the old gals from that hatch('cousin' and 'baby hefty').

Matt

 

[dsyd]

Hehe

. Good to hear all of yours were ok! I think I will just tape off the walls to stop him/her pecking them. It's too cold round here for a box and light to be warm enough...

It is eating and drinking and seems happy so I think it should be fine.

 

[Justino]

wait, so ur lettin em grow up in the bator? usually ppl put em in a brooder box inside with a strong heat lamp on it.....

 

[dsyd]

Yes just for this week - the temperature fluctuations are too extreme at the moment to put it in a box, I think it would be too cold at night. When it gets some proper feathers I'll give it a bit more space. Don't really see why the incubator should work any differently.