Chickens swallowed keys HELP!!

[Suedan]

Our chickens ate part of my husband's hearing aide.

Oh my goodness, now is the time to tell him that you are getting more chickens if you like.

 

[Peepsi]

LOL, my chickens try to eat every shiny thing I am carrying. I have to be SO careful. When I was making a few modifications to the inside of the coop (with the chickens still inside), My Wyandottes, Salt and Pepper, would hover over me and try to snatch the screws right from my hands AS I WAS DRILLING THEM IN. I finally got fed up and put them all in a dog cage in the coop, so they'd leave me alone to do my work. Luckily, I was pretty careful, and no one has yet swallowed anything shiny, and not for lack of trying!

 

[featherhead007]

LOL, my chickens try to eat every shiny thing I am carrying. I have to be SO careful. When I was making a few modifications to the inside of the coop (with the chickens still inside), My Wyandottes, Salt and Pepper, would hover over me and try to snatch the screws right from my hands AS I WAS DRILLING THEM IN. I finally got fed up and put them all in a dog cage in the coop, so they'd leave me alone to do my work. Luckily, I was pretty careful, and no one has yet swallowed anything shiny, and not for lack of trying!

Aww, come on. They were only trying to help you with the job.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

one hen grabbed the 2 keys from my hand and ran off and swallowed it.

WTH?

 

[Dottypotty]

WTH?

?? I left both keys on the metal ring which came with the padlocks, I do worry how stupid I am at times... Now I keep them as spares like your suppose to What a dummy chicken keeper I am haha..

 

[Pennys Mama]

Just be glad they weren't your car keys. starting a car with an egg is kinda hard to do.

That's what popped into my head first, car keys.

Our chickens ate part of my husband's hearing aide.

Ohmygoodness! Bad chicken!

Oh my goodness, now is the time to tell him that you are getting more chickens if you like.

I know right!?

LOL, my chickens try to eat every shiny thing I am carrying. I have to be SO careful. When I was making a few modifications to the inside of the coop (with the chickens still inside), My Wyandottes, Salt and Pepper, would hover over me and try to snatch the screws right from my hands AS I WAS DRILLING THEM IN. I finally got fed up and put them all in a dog cage in the coop, so they'd leave me alone to do my work. Luckily, I was pretty careful, and no one has yet swallowed anything shiny, and not for lack of trying!

Helpful! Trying to help with modifying their coop, there'd be shiny washers, rings, chains &/or everything else possible everywhere if left up to a chicken.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

?? I left both keys on the metal ring which came with the padlocks, I do worry how stupid I am at times... Now I keep them as spares like your suppose to What a dummy chicken keeper I am haha..

You're not at fault, at least by my limited knowledge of what chickens are capable of... I was just expressing amazement that a chicken would swallow something as big as a key. without it being a frog, of course.

 

[featherhead007]

I watched a chicken swallow a whole mouse! I put nothing past a chicken anymore.
This is the MOUSE EATER:

 

[BlueBaby]

Just got back in and she's layed an egg, vet came up and said there's nothing to worry about, but has advised me to leave her alone for now. She's layed a double yoke egg I believe as its huge, maybe the key is inside. Forget xmas, it's Easter baby haha bad joke.

The vet thinks she's passed the key and snagged her behinds, so he's advised me to bath her in warmish water with salt, and some watery cream/gel I was given.


I had to grind the old padlock off and put another one on, from now on padlocks will be removed before there let out in the morning. What a weird situation lol. Thanks all for the help, panicked a bit to much.. If the key is somehow in that egg I won't be to happy, as I'll be down an expensive padlock. Merry Christams Heny haha

I have a padlock on my coop door. I wear something that has pocket's, and keep the key in it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Just got back in and she's layed an egg, vet came up and said there's nothing to worry about, but has advised me to leave her alone for now. She's layed a double yoke egg I believe as its huge, maybe the key is inside. Forget xmas, it's Easter baby haha bad joke.

The vet thinks she's passed the key and snagged her behinds, so he's advised me to bath her in warmish water with salt, and some watery cream/gel I was given.


I had to grind the old padlock off and put another one on, from now on padlocks will be removed before there let out in the morning. What a weird situation lol. Thanks all for the help, panicked a bit to much.. If the key is somehow in that egg I won't be to happy, as I'll be down an expensive padlock. Merry Christams Heny haha

Perhaps your vet isn't familiar with chicken anatomy. My bet is that they are lodged in the gizzard.
When food is swallowed, it is stored in the crop temporarily while it is moistened and then passes through the esophagus to the proventriculus (true stomach) where stomach acids and digestive enzymes are added. From there it goes to the gizzard (mechanical stomach) where it is ground up. The gizzard is basically a bird's teeth. Small, sharp insoluble stones (grit) are consumed and lodge in the gizzard where the muscles contract and grind up the other ingredients making the nutrients more accessible to the absorption sites along walls of the intestines. Eventually the acidic environment will wear away at the stones and the remnants pass at which time the chickens have to consume more stones to replace their (teeth). Your keys are now grit and they too will eventually pass but not as a whole key.

I have butchered meat chickens that had swallowed nails and broken glass which had become imbedded in the gizzard. No blood was ever evident in the feces. I can't imagine blood being present in your bird's feces. A key just isn't sharp enough to penetrate the tough lining of the gizzard. I think the birds I raise now are much smarter. Part of their terrain was once a dump and they continually turn up glass and metals. I've never found anything like that in their gizzards and I go out every week or two with a bucket and collect any shiny or rusty debris.

There is also no way for the keys to be in the egg. The reproductive tract and the digestive tract are two completely separate systems until they reach the cloaca. By that time, the egg is complete and the shell completely formed in the uterus. You can't push a key into an egg shell at that point.

You may want to review the following information and enlighten your vet about chicken anatomy.
https://www.uspoultry.org/education.../Lesson11/PoultryAnatomyandPhysiologyPres.pdf

I use padlocks on most of my chicken doors. Not to keep people out but for raccoons so I leave a key in each lock whether open or closed.