Chicks eating cardboard

[TwoYolkels]

Hey all, so I read up that chicks can get fixated on something like pecking at cardboard, but eventually lose interest. Well it's been a week and our 5 and 6 week old chicks are still at it. We have 8 chicks living in a converted dog crate. The bottom half is lined with cardboard to keep the mess contained. But they've been going at the cardboard o much that they pecked a huge hole on one side which I promptly covered up with more cardboard. But now they're pecking the other sides and there's cardboard everywhere. What's more is I just pulled about an inch long piece of cardboard from one of their mouthes--she was determined to eat the whole thing.

They have fresh water and food, wood pellets for bedding, and roosting bars. We are about less than a week from their coop being completed (the hubby is building from scratch). But I do fear they are feeling a bit cramped.
What should I do about them eating the carboard?? We haven't started them on any grit....I'm not entirely sure what that all entails.
Any advice would be so helpful!

 

[thecatumbrella]

I put a cardboard box in the brooder for "enrichment". All it enriched was their intestinal tracks. Is the cardboard there for dust? Can you try moving it to the outside of the crate? Or maybe zip tie some lids that you'd use for plastic totes to the side?

 

[FattyChickens]

chickens are pretty destructive birds unfortunately, and there's a chance they will never stop pecking at it. I would switch it out for fabric on the outside of the crate if you have it there to contain the mess.

 

[Airyaman]

Lol, I make sure to remove all labels on feeders, waterers, etc. because if I don't the chickens just peck them off. In my short time keeping them I've found chickens will destroy anything they can.

 

[kattabelly]

Maybe too late for you to get hold of some now before the coop is finished but corrugated plastic (twin wall fluted polypropylene e.g. Correx) would be a good alternative to cardboard here. I've used it in the past and never had chicks peck enough to start eating it. It's used for things like large appliance packaging and short-term outdoor signage, so you can often pick up a used piece for free.

Giving them plenty of other things to keep them busy should help too. Keep swapping things in & out to keep them interested and because you don't have much space. Give them some grit - most people seem to put it in a separate dish for them to take what they need; I just chuck a bit in their dust bath since they want to eat that anyway. You can buy bags of chick grit that'll be the right size for them now and not contain anything else like oyster shell, which they won't need for extra calcium until they start laying. Dust bath is another thing. A piece of turf, once they've had some grit to avoid any crop issues if they eat a load of grass. A mirror. Start introducing very small amounts of other foods just to give them a taste - edible plants they'll have access to when they go outside, kitchen scraps if you're allowed to feed those where you are, etc - after they've had some grit.