Chickens are eating Styrofoam!!! HELP!!!

[Renee]

Camille, you crack me up. Like Hansel and Gretel, huh?

 

[tiki244]

These are funny stories to read!

Mine have done the same~foam,caulk,silicone. Crazy!!!

I had to yell at a chickadee the other day for eating some great stuff foam caulk I had put on the outside of my basement blocks.

 

[RockinRob]

thanks for all the info my Rooster (the actively dominate one; started tearing up a "to go, styro box " with treats in it ) and of course every one else had to have some , 52 buff orpingtons lost only 2 , now 50 eating machines

 

[rdana]

Don't mean to suggest that there is any reason to worry, but I do have some concerns about this. I just discovered that my chickens have been eating the blue foam insulation that's on the outside of my house's foundation for sometime now. The kind of insulation I have is Extruded Polystyrene, made by Dow. I'm not particularly worried about the foam itself, but in doing a bit of internet research I found that all of these exterior rigid foam insulation products are made with a brominated flame retardant called HBCD (hexabromocyclododecane). HBCD is a known health hazard to humans, according the the EPA: http://www.epa.gov/hpvis/rbp/HBCD.3194556.Web.RBP.31308.pdf

Now, I DO NOT KNOW if, when chickens eat this stuff, it winds up in their meat or eggs. But I certainly intend to find out before I slaughter any chickens or start eating any eggs (my hens haven't started laying yet.)

I've got a call into my local ag extension office and will post here if I learn anything new. If anyone else out there has researched this issue and has any solid information, please post here also.

 

[possumqueen]

Quote:

That's a very interesting take on the subject, rdana. Everyone is used to chickens scarfing down styrofoam -- it's a standard that's always good for a laugh -- but the stuff seems to just shoot on through, and no one's ever (that I know of) seen a bird get sick on it. As you can see from this thread, it's mostly a nuisance that the little buggers do this. I never thought of all the chemicals.

 

[tulie13]

I'm a chemist, not specifically familiar with this particular chemical, but it's not a big molecule - most likely it's embedded in the foam itself and very little escapes the chunk going through the chicken's digestive system. Good to look into, but I wouldn't panic about it.

 

[Quadog]

My chickens will stand on the highest roost & stretch out as far as they can get their necks & legs to stretch out just to get a peck at the blue styrofoam on the ceiling!

I guess I will have to cover it with a board so the big dummies will stay warm this winter.

Maybe I will paint it blue just to mess with them.

 

[crackertrail]

Before I noticed - my flock of chickens had eaten ALL the bottoms of my hydroponics containers. Now to replace the pieces that they messed up will be wasted money unless we can keep them out of the garden area. They must have stood there for hours.

 

[deanna&rich]

rdana, ... I had concerns about the chemicals, just like you have. Please let us know what you find out. So many chemicals in our world do build up in fatty tissues and eventually cause illness.

 

[andrewjake]

I have 8 laying hens and they ate a styrofoam wall inside my shed.
Now the eggs are tasting like styrofoam.
I'm going to have to throw our four dozen eggs.
I've tried eating them sunny, over easy, scrambled and in pancakes.
They leave a taste of styrofoam chemical in the back of my mouth.

The chickens seem to be healthy and happy.

How long will it take for the styrofoam taste to leave their eggs?