chickens ate airsoft pellets!

[Oopoo]

I think my only concern would be more pellets than food, but those chickens will eat until their stuffed so they should do alright.

 

[CrestedTern]

I shoot bb guns and airsoft guns in my yard and when I processed a couple of my chickens I found some of the metal bbs and some of the plastic ones in their gizzards. I'm sure that the hens have also eaten some of the bbs but they haven't had any problems!!

 

[slickchik]

I had this one chick that would come inside the house and play "Polly Pockets" with my niece.... (Little dolls) and one day the chick ate a shoe from the doll... I was worried sick about it but now this chick has become my best laying hen

They can eat all kinds of things and be ok...

 

[grasjm36]

mine were eating styrafoam yesterday....dumb chickens!!

 

[ShannonS79]

Mine think styrafoam is delicious.

Weirdos.

 

[DarkUnicorn]

Airsoft pellets... Green, Yellow and Orange make for interesting um.... poo.... I can always tell who was shooting the day or 2 before....

But then again... mine eat glass and bolts and other items I don't want to think about too much, It all comes out in the end...

 

[OneCrazyStitchChick]

So glad to see this thread! Boy am I relieved. This is the first time I've tried raising chicks and although mine are only 2 wks, I was thinking ahead - my three youngest boys love to play with the airsoft rifles and guns and have friends over for "airsoft" wars often. I was so upset about this, but am now relieved in knowing that as long as everyone uses the biodegradeable type we should be OK. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!


1 hubby, 6 boys, 1 girl, 2 sheep, 2 barn cats and 10 Rhode Island Red chicks that are 2 wks old now!

 

[mamaloveschickies]

Has anyone ever had their chickens eat toooooooo many airsoft bb's and have a problem? We literally have THOUSANDS of them on our property, as my boys host "Airsoft Wars" for hours and hours every few weekends. They use ammo that is heavier (25gr) than those little light plastic balls. Right now, the babies are too tiny to go outside, but in a few weeks...well I'm SO worried! They will free range and I don't want them to fill up and become impacted! Last time we had chickens, my boys were very small and I had to worry about them instead, as my "Attack Rooster Bantie" didn't like them and would try to take 'em down, lol! He was my sweetie, very possesive and didn't like my giving attention to the kids instead of him!

 

[spotstealer]

Quote:
Just be carefull where they aim they're butts!

 

[Nambroth]

I'll say this since this thread comes up if you search for BBs! Maybe I can help someone in the future...

Airsoft pellets (plastic) should be just fine, as everyone else has said.
BBs are possibly less safe-- those that are steel shot should not cause any problems if chickens ingest them.
BBs that are zinc-coated can cause a problem if the chicken ingests many of them (heavy metal toxicity).
BBs that are lead (lead shot, etc) can easily cause lead poisoning. This is not only bad (can easily be fatal) for the chicken if ingested, but the lead can be passed on to humans that consume eggs and meat.

Here are is a link about lead poisoning/toxicity: http://www.heidihoefer.com/pages/birds/lead_poison_bird.htm