Do chickens eat and pass plastic?

[cbsfusek]

Hello friends,

I've never raised chickens in the suburbs until this past year, and am finding that our yard is full of microplastic. I just had $1k worth of organic topsoil delivered for landscaping, and hoped this would dilute the plastic quite a bit, and even THIS has plastic in it I see my bantams (RIRs and Brahmas) pick up plastic quite often, but am never able to tell how much of it they actually eat.

Anyone know if I'm going to have a bunch of blocked up chickens on my hands in the coming years or if they will pass it? This all seriously bums me out

Thanks for any insight!

 

[Know it All]

As long as the plastic isn't sharp, they should be fine. Yes, they will poop it out, as long as it doesn't get stuck in their digestive tract. And I believe you said it was microplastic, so they'll be fine. I've never encountered this problem before, so that's just my thinking on it.
(I mean, chickens eat grit all the time, and pass it. So...)

 

[rosemarythyme]

They should pass it out but it's not ideal. Unfortunately we find bits of trash (like plastic) buried in the yard but at least my flock isn't inclined to eat it - they pick it up because it's shiny, then spit it out.

 

[Perris]

sadly they are unavoidable in the modern world, for us as well as our chickens and every other living thing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/heal...ebdfb6-e17a-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Mine don't eat plastic that they find, and they find a fair amount it just keeps coming out of nowhere it seems! But if they do eat it, it should come out the other end just fine. They have got into polystyrene - which they DO eat like it's candy. It all came out the other end but I had to lock that right up, they really liked it!

 

[aart]

our yard is full of microplastic.

What exactly does this mean?
Got pics?

I just had $1k worth of organic topsoil delivered for landscaping, and hoped this would dilute the plastic quite a bit, and even THIS has plastic in it

Send it back? (kidding)
Partial refund?

 

[cbsfusek]

As long as the plastic isn't sharp, they should be fine. Yes, they will poop it out, as long as it doesn't get stuck in their digestive tract. And I believe you said it was microplastic, so they'll be fine. I've never encountered this problem before, so that's just my thinking on it.
(I mean, chickens eat grit all the time, and pass it. So...)

I was thinking the same thing, that they eat grit...so it should be okay...i just hope the bigger pieces aren't getting stuck, resulting in some accumulation over time that harms them...agh. Most is very tiny but some is a little bigger, like 1/4 of a bottle cap for instance (and I do think some of it is sharp but hoping they don't eat those pieces--sometimes I see them pick up a piece that's too big to eat, and they toss it aside, but surely they must eat some of the smaller pieces.). In any event thanks for making me feel better!

 

[cbsfusek]

They should pass it out but it's not ideal. Unfortunately we find bits of trash (like plastic) buried in the yard but at least my flock isn't inclined to eat it - they pick it up because it's shiny, then spit it out.

I'm glad to know yours don't seem to eat it. I can't tell how often mine do...Honestly I may get out the binoculars and see if I can tell, lol. I see them toss pieces aside sometimes, but usually it's a bigger piece they do this with, so I can only assume they eat the tiny ones

 

[cbsfusek]

Mine don't eat plastic that they find, and they find a fair amount it just keeps coming out of nowhere it seems! But if they do eat it, it should come out the other end just fine. They have got into polystyrene - which they DO eat like it's candy. It all came out the other end but I had to lock that right up, they really liked it!

This makes me feel much better! Thanks

 

[cbsfusek]

sadly they are unavoidable in the modern world, for us as well as our chickens and every other living thing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/heal...ebdfb6-e17a-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html

Yes it's in our blood and even in the tiny microorganisms that live under glaciers...I'm an environmental attorney and my chickens and my garden help me to escape the existential dread after work each day, so I think the realization that it's totally permeated my yard has been extra difficult to cope with, sigh. Thanks for commiserating.