chicken eating plastic! will they live?????

[Chickassan]

She'll be fine. Unless you just have one ear or don't mind the journey your earplug is going to take i'd get myself a new pair.

Ok.thank you everyone for your great responses to eating the plastic. Our 6 month old adventurous girl ran into the laundry room and ate a foam earplug. I can't find anywhere on line about what to do when a chicken eats an earplug. There are tons of articles when a dog or child eats one. Crossing fingers and hoping that she doesn't die while we are on vacation! I have tears on my eyes from laughing at everyone else's similar issues. Thank you!

 

[hugitnotnugget]

I have winter extensions for the chickens for when we have 70mph winds and snow (we live in the highlands of Scotland) - we've had both recently, however I thought the rats were getting to the plastic as they had started to be eaten away. The coop has been there for as long as our two wyandottes have which has been nearly a year. Today I just spotted the wyandottes eating the plastic so I removed it and in the process one of them ran up, snatched a very large bit and proceeded to eat it before I could grab it from her. There is no way any vet near us will attempt an operation on a chicken, they find it ridiculous when I insist on them being treated for anything and know virtually nothing about them. Will she die? is there anything I can do? she's walking about fine at the moment but it won't have affected her yet. Any help would be appreciated! They are usually very clever! I don't know why they have started to doing this.

Chickens eat a lot of things they shouldn’t. But they should be ok. They probably had passed some if they have been eating it for a little while now. They have a short digestive tract. I would just keep an eye on them and make sure they continue to behave normally. I think they will be fine though.

 

[trufadog]

Ear plug saga..We didn't want to alarm our dog/chicken sitter, so we didn't tell her about the ear plug. When we can back after 10 days, all the chickens were happy and healthy, so the plug must have passed with through with a little tickle.

 

[dstew1012]

One of my chickens ate a fake round plastic berry off of a Christmas wreath. It was about the size of a blueberry. I'm worried about blockage and the toxins from the plastic. Can I give her something to make her regurgitate it?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

One of my chickens ate a fake round plastic berry off of a Christmas wreath. It was about the size of a blueberry. I'm worried about blockage and the toxins from the plastic. Can I give her something to make her regurgitate it?

It's not advisable to get chickens to upchuck, this can lead to them aspirating, or inhaling the vomit and can lead to respiratory issues at least and, worst case scenario, to death. It will probably pass, doing no harm. Go back and read the rest of the thread.

 

[FamilyofThree]

Last year our girls ingested almost an entire pool noodle we had been using to winterize a water pipe in our yard. We just told people that the eggs weren't quiet organic!

 

[bmaw]

I would think she'll be ok. Mine have eaten styrofoam, shredded plastic, silicone caulk, and who knows what else that I didn't see them eat!

mine was inside to be fed away from the others and ate a pinky fake fingernail! should i worry?