Chickens with styrofoam addiction

[Petra Pancake]

One of mine eats concrete... thankfully she's mostly lost interest in it now that there's grass and other more interesting things to eat!

Okay, I'll look into stainless steel as building material for my next coop, or maybe Titanium? Tungsten?
Regarding grit, mine have access to sand, earth, stones of all sizes, pebbles and rocks all over the place because that's what our back garden and their run mostly consists of... I've never given them any extra grit, figuring they can easily eat all the grinding material they need...

 

[aart]

Hotpick. Tastes like fire. Comes in spray applicator.

Birds don't have the heat receptors we have, so don't think that will work.

a thin paint-like plastic coating over the styrofoam

Yeah, not enough.....need to cover with something hard and unpeckapartable(I know that not really a word-haha!).

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Hotpick is manufactured for birds. I didn't taste it myself. It's kind of a funny thought, though!

Here it is; http://www.thomaslabs.com/product/hot-pick/bird-feather-health

 

[lazy gardener]

Perhaps her daddy was a jack hammer. Hope she doesn't cause your run to fall down!

 

[Abriana]

Lazy Gardener, what type of rooster is in your avatar? Looks EXACTLY like a Columbian Rock Ameraucana I had. In fact, at first i thought that was him! Same comb and everything.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Can you cover the styrofoam with plywood, tough plastic, tarp or something the like? As long as it's covered by something, doesn't matter what, it shouldn't be a problem.

Tough plastic won't work. I had a lot in a big, strong plastic bag underneath the porch and they pecked through the bag to get to the styrofoam.

 

[aart]

Hotpick is manufactured for birds. I didn't taste it myself. It's kind of a funny thought, though!

Here it is; http://www.thomaslabs.com/product/hot-pick/bird-feather-health

Huh....so it worked for your parrots?
Wonders if it's the soap more than the 'hot' that deters them?
I wonder if parrots and chickens are different in that respect?

 

[AquaDuck]

Tough plastic won't work. I had a lot in a big, strong plastic bag underneath the porch and they pecked through the bag to get to the styrofoam.

Well it depends what kind of plastic. The thickest form of moisture barrier is 0,20 mm thick, and would be hard to peck through in an instant. But the best thing is of course to use metal or wood as coverage, as both plastic and tarp are likely to get destroyed over time.

 

[lazy gardener]

Lazy Gardener, what type of rooster is in your avatar? Looks EXACTLY like a Columbian Rock Ameraucana I had. In fact, at first i thought that was him! Same comb and everything.

He's an EE. I hatched him from a donated egg. I forget what his mother was, but his Daddy was an EE. He's a good boy, takes care of his girls, does predator alarms, loves his babies.

 

[Patinas]

I'm not sure any more if I've got chickens or a special kind of feathered locusts.

That is a hilarious description! I totally cracked up! Not funny that they're eating all that Styrofoam though! I've seen other posts from people finding their chickens eating the stuff. I used to trust they would know what to eat and not eat but clearly that is not the case. Overtime, I've become much more diligent of what is laying out in our yard because just like "curiosity killed the cat", I believe that also applies to chickens!

I had no idea they were so curious and would taste/eat virtually anything they find. Couple days ago, I saw one of mine trying to eat a shard of glass it found on the patio that was missed. Luckily, it let me take it from it without running off with it.