chickens eating perilite

[ericmcginn5]

when i garden i use potting soil and the white cotton things in it called perilite my chickens always eat it is it bad for them or no

 

[five is my dog]

i think its bad for them. i would keep them out of the garden somehow or use different soil.

 

[ericmcginn5]

ok thank you i will do that for some reason they will eat it

 

[five is my dog]

your welcome!

 

[chfite]

Perlite is a form of glass. Glass is pretty much chemically inert, so it should not be poisonous. Considering all the junk the chickens run through their crops as grit, I doubt the perlite would hurt them, because it has no sharp edges.

Chickens will eat the strangest things. Mine will stand outside my woodshop and eat pieces of sawdust that get swept out the door. These are about the size of a grain of salt and have no nutrition I know of. They will spend long periods of time carefully pecking each and every grain of it off the ground.

Chris

 

[Emilou]

Perlite is a form of glass. Glass is pretty much chemically inert, so it should not be poisonous. Considering all the junk the chickens run through their crops as grit, I doubt the perlite would hurt them, because it has no sharp edges.

Chickens will eat the strangest things. Mine will stand outside my woodshop and eat pieces of sawdust that get swept out the door. These are about the size of a grain of salt and have no nutrition I know of. They will spend long periods of time carefully pecking each and every grain of it off the ground.

Chris

Right you are! I checked all the NIH docs and other sources that sounded real and perlite is totally non-toxic. One person had the good advice to place un-perlited soil on top of any tempting places...especially planters! In planters I have started to use largish gravel for that reason.