EATING STYROFOAM....HARMFUL?

[whatsup chickenbutt]

and here is a picture of my chicken eating styrofoam. I also used my vast chicken wisdom and put them in a styrofoam insulated chicken coop.

 

[Chellester]

My DH and I are building a house using Sip panels. Sip panels are used for the exterior framework in lieu of the traditional wood framing. They are made by pressing two plywood panels together with, yep, you guessed it, styrofoam in between. My DH had to cut through a lot of the panels for various reasons, and the resulting styrofoam pieces were blowing all over the yard. My chickens were gobbling it up; there was no way I could keep them away from it. This was months ago, and no one died, or even got the least bit ill as a result.

I think what we forget is that chickens are designed to pass through whatever they eat but can't digest. I'm sure through their daily foraging they pick up a lot of pebbles, small wood pieces, and God knows what else, and it all just passes right through. Unless it's large enough to get stuck (and they usually seem at least smart enough not to eat stuff that's too big for them) styrofoam should pass right through like everything else.

 

[princess araucana]

Make me think they would be crazy for rice cakes!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Ducks go for styrofoam too.

Come to think of it, I guess the reason I have Indian Runner ducks is because they were slowly un-insulating the previous owner's shop.

I was cleaning up our barn this past weekend and found pieces of what used to be a styrofoam meat (?) tray . . . something from the previous owners that had escaped my notice when we did our initial clean-up. Well, one of my ducks snatched it up and ran off with it. I chased her down to the pond, but she already had it in the middle of the pond, trying to break it into small enough pieces to eat. I think she ate some of it before I managed to get her to give it up . . . sheesh. So much for organically raised ducks.

 

[animal nut]

Thank you everyone. I feel alot better. We covered all of ours but chickens are amazing.

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[BatonRougeChick]

I am glad I found this thread. Even 6 years later your comments are helping others!

 

[ChickensRule101]

Thank goodnes...

 

[BIG Feathers Farm]

A quote from Nifty-Chicken, the Administrator of BYC:

"I gave up on my birds knowing what was best for them when I caught them all eating a block of Styrofoam pellets."


But I believe all his Styrofoam eating chickens are still with us...

If Chickens can eat Shells, Stones, Styrofoam and some VERY annoying bugs, rodents and I don't know what... They MUST have a very selective digestive system... Smart Birds!
Chickens are Pretty Good in Knowing What to Eat or Not!