eating pine shavings!?

[AndreaS]

My girls are 7 weeks old and have been moved out to their chicken tractor for two weeks. I have pine shavings in their coop andoccasionally some get out into their attached run. I had never had any issues with them eating their shavings, but this week I have noticed two of them gobble down a rather large shaving when they are out scratching/ playing in their run.

I sprinkle play sand in their dirt and bedding for grit since I read that they aren't yet old enough for crushed granite grit. If I put a whole dish of sand out they will eat it all, like its a treat...so I just sprinkle a little around every few days. Little piggies

Should I be concerned about the occasional pine shaving being eaten? Will the play sand be enough grit to break it down? Yesterday when I saw one of the girlies eat a shaving, they had been playing keep away with it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If that play sand is what I think it is, it is very fine. They will get some benefit as grit out of it but it will pretty much go straight through their system. That's part of why they gobble so much of it down. Course sand would do a lot more good. At 7 weeks, they can also handle small pebbles for grit, maybe pebbles about half the size of a pea. It does not have to be sand.

If they are out in a tractor, they should be getting pebbles from the ground as grit. I'd think your ground is kind of rocky. Eating some pine shavings, even fairly large shavings, should not hurt them. I would not be concerned.

 

[AndreaS]

Yep, the play sand is very fine.
Thanks so much for the reply! I get a little paranoid about my girls!