eating pine needles...

[tomdeggeater]

Well REDWA, It seems the only option is to cut down the trees.
You have no friends with chainsaws?
If not, seeing as you have a computer, join craigslist,org and surf around for somebody who would do this for you for no charge - just to get the firewood. If'n you know how to barter, you might even make money, albeit only chicken feed.
TomD

 

[allen wranch]

Are the birds actually eating the pine needles ? A lot of people use "pine straw" for bedding and have no problems. Just like chicks on new bedding they may be experimenting to see what they taste like, but I have a feeling the birds are just scratching around on the ground among the pine needles looking for things underneath. JMHO

Are you feeding your birds DE ? I had crop impaction problems until I stopped feeding it to them.

 

[redwa]

I do not feed them DE because I heard that it can cause problems with the crop. But I do use it in their nesting boxes and on the ground where they bathe. Not positive about the pine needle eating other than I think some were in the crop contents of one of my girls we did surgery on. Ironically, my husband just built a treehouse for the kids using two of the fir trees which are in the coop/run area. I can't take that down....

 

[allen wranch]

I think your set up is fine.

 

[dixie chicken]

I have read that pine needles are a natural dewormer and that wild birds will nibble at it naturally. Don't know if this is true.

 

[rufus]

Chickens are pretty stupid, but I have never seen one eat something that isn't good for it. That is, given that they are being fed a balanced diet. Sometimes they will eat feathers and such if they are being shortchanged on their rations.

Leave the pine trees alone. It takes a lifetime to produce a decent tree. You are only here for 60 to 80 years. The tree can last a thousand years.

Feed your hens the laying pellets, give them lots of free access to grass and weeds. In the evening feeding give them 2/3 laying pellets and 1/3 scratch. Don't forget the oyster shell.

Rufus

 

[speckledhen]

My guineas used to chow down on pine needles and I wondered why, then one day I found some info that told me there was a particular nutrient in them that the guineas craved. Can't remember where I saw that, but my chickens occasionally do nip the tips off of them as well, though not to the degree that my guineas did.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I've never seen any of mine eating the pine needles in our yard. Maybe they're too busy eating the hosta. They nibble on a lot of things, I've just never seen them nibbling on the pines. We have a couple dozen pines, plus some other conifers, with multiple species.

 

[panner123]

I think if pine needles would hurt chickensm mine would all be dead by now. They free range on property that is covered with oak and pine. I have no idea if they eat the needles, but I am sure they do with no ill affects. I would leave the trees for shade and cover. If a hawk shows up the trees will give them a place to hide.

 

[redwa]

I just discovered that it is not the pine needles that has been causing the crop problems, it's the cat food (at least according to a local chicken specialist). I began giving them a high protein natural cat food a couple of times a week to supplement their diet. What I think now is that it has been too much protein and the wrong kind causing intestinal problems which caused digestion to slow down which caused things to begin to back up in the crop. It also explains why only my older girls were having crop problems, because they are higher in the peckiing order and were keeping all the other younger pullets away from the food because they wanted all the goodies for themselves... No more cat food for us. Also, some breeds are more sensitive than others as well as some chickens. Another importaqnt chicken lesson. I was actually killing them with kindness.