Chicks who eat a lot of pine?

[Nicole01]

Could this be a vitamin deficiency? I really worry about the future of my Speckled Sussex. She ate too many pine chips or a big one and was choking on it. I wonder if I should be switching the probios water to vitamin water. What do you think?

I don't even know where to get chick vitamins if I need them. I know my daughter had an iron deficiency and needed iron. She had pica as a symptom and ate dirt, rocks, sand, chalk, paper, crayons, ect... It was cured when her iron levels were normal.

 

[Sorin]

I'm no expert on this, but maybe for some reason she likes it

I mean, chickens love foam insulation, who knows why? If yo want to try vitamins you can try Polyvisol (childrens vitamins) without iron. You can get it at any pharmacy. You can give 3 drops per day. If your worried about her choking, maybe try covering the pine chips with paper towels for a few days. How old are your chicks?

 

[Nicole01]

Maple is 4 weeks old and just about fully feathered. She was with the big girls until last night. I put her in with the babies to keep her warm. I don't want to separate her from the big girls too long though. That would hurt her pecking order status.

 

[Sorin]

By big girls, do you mean fully grown? Or other 4 week olds? At 4 weeks old she should not be with adult birds if that's the case. But, back to your problem, is it possible to get bigger pine shavings? They do come in different grades, something big enough that she couldn't eat. Im thinking this is something that may pass. I'm assuming you have plenty of food available

and that eating the pine shavings is a recent problem?

Edit: just saw your BYC page, I see she's not with adult birds

I hope I didn't offend you!

 

[Nicole01]

Quote:
Maple will be 5 weeks on Tuesday and just about fully feathered. The big girls are fully feathered and a week older then her. I hate to have them separated now, she misses them and they miss her. I do have the biggest shavings we could find. We bought the shavings in the horse bedding section. The birds get 24/7 food.

. Maple has been eating pine since the day I brought her home. None of the others eat it line her.

 

[Sorin]

That's odd

I've never heard of one eating it from day one, usually they try once or twice and once they discover is not food, they give up. Be she doesn't seem to realize it's not food. You could try the vitamins for a day or two. For that short of time the vitamins can't hurt her. The polyvisol comes with a dropper, just one drop, 3 times a day. If you want to try it, just be sure and get the stuff without iron, it's my understanding hat the extra iron is not good for them. Maybe try putting some other things in the coop to distract her, stuffed toys, my chicks love them! They climb on them, peck at them sleep on them, play king of the mountain! Maybe when they have acces to a run she will find that more interesting than pine chips. You can give them some treats at this age as long as they have access to grit. They will love some greens. I buy mine kale sometimes, it's cheap and they love it. Maybe hang a partial bunch from the ceiling, they will love to peck at it. I hope this helps

I'm not sure what else to do, unless someone else has better suggestions.

 

[Cynthia12]

Quote:
Maple will be 5 weeks on Tuesday and just about fully feathered. The big girls are fully feathered and a week older then her. I hate to have them separated now, she misses them and they miss her. I do have the biggest shavings we could find. We bought the shavings in the horse bedding section. The birds get 24/7 food.

. Maple has been eating pine since the day I brought her home. None of the others eat it line her.

I once had an Ameraucana that did this! She ate those pine shaving like they were candy to a child....or me..

She grew up fine. Stopped eating them around two months when she really started to pig out on the food. I had another one that wanted to eat the pine too, but didn't eat it as long.

 

[PetRock]

I have a Blue Langshan who is 5 weeks old and a confirmed pine shavings addict! She will pick one up, put it in the waterer, fish it back out, and then eat it. She patrols the waterer just waiting for a pine shaving to fall in!

She is a quirky bird and I love her! I was worried when she started doing this at 1 week old but she eats plenty of chick food and is growing fine. Now at 5 weeks old, she seems to have slowed down a little bit on the pine shavings so maybe it is something that they grow out of?!

 

[Sorin]

I'm so glad someone else replied who has had experience with this!

 

[Nicole01]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that has a pine addicted bird. I never thought she would eat such a big piece. I'm going to have to give her olive oil every so often just to make sure everything passes. Hopefully she will grow out of this.