Help!! Chicken ate a piece of hardware cloth!!

[Fancyfeetchick]

My chicken ate a piece of hardware cloth before I could get it away from her. It seemed to be about the size of a staple. What, if anything can I do?? Please help!

 

[welasharon]

Not much you can do unless you want to cut the crop open. I would just wait and see how it does. They eat a lot of odd stuff...mine ate styrofoam.

 

[Fancyfeetchick]

Well I won't be doing that! I'm just worried it will injure her when she digests it. I guess I will just have to wait and see how she does. How long until you think it may pass? If it doesn't pass, will she just die?

 

[tyjaco]

I'm SO sorry. But, if she starts to puff up - you MUST have her put down. Don't let her suffer. The very same thing happened to one of my first hens. She started laying eggs that seemed wet on the end. it started to get worse. Then she puffed up and stopped eating. I didn't know what was wrong, so we were giving her penicillin and tube feeding her. Until I finally took her to the vet and he ex-rayed her and saw the piece of metal. There was no saving her. I cannot justify $500 surgery for a $3 hen. I was heartbroken and I cried, but it was the right thing to do.

 

[Fancyfeetchick]

What do you mean by puff up? Like her feathers will be all ruffled? Sorry, this is my first batch of chickens, do I'm kind of learning as I go. She ate the metal about 8pm last night and I check on her this morning and she seems normal (about 12 hrs). When should I look for signs?

 

[welasharon]

You should always keep an eye on your birds to make sure they are doing fine. It is not always obvious when a chicken feels bad...the signs are subtle but if you watch your birds every day and get to know how they act you will notice quicker that they don't "act" just right. Just keep watching and enjoying your birds.

 

[tyjaco]

What do you mean by puff up? Like her feathers will be all ruffled? Sorry, this is my first batch of chickens, do I'm kind of learning as I go. She ate the metal about 8pm last night and I check on her this morning and she seems normal (about 12 hrs). When should I look for signs?

I'm so sorry to be such a downer - it's just that I feel that I kept my girl alive, and in terrible pain, longer than I should have - I just didn't know what the problem was..
Yes, her feathers will be all ruffled out - she will literally look "puffed". I am praying that it just passes through her and she'll be fine. I LOVE chickens and I hate seeing them sick. Oh, and I don't really know how long things take (if they do go bad), because I didn't see my hen eat it, I just saw what happened after.
I'm sending ALL my good vibes and positive thoughts to your girl.

Pleas, keep us posted.

 

[Fancyfeetchick]

Tyjaco, I completely understand. It's been 24 hours and she's still kicking. I was gone most of the day, and the heat has been brutal here in south east GA (115 today) and the girls were hot, but still alive. I draped an old curtain over their run to provide more shade and froze two ziplock bags with ice and wrapped them in ice. It seemed to help.
As for Goldie (the hardware cloth eating birdie) she seems to be acting normal. I am with my chickens everyday and sit with them when they are let out of the run. She is pooping (but it's really watery... and i was thinking that's from not eating a lot because its hot and drinking a lot of water... the other birds are doing it too.) She is eating, i gave them some millworm treats and frozen oranges; and she's eating grass and their grower food. She's behaving normal all the way around. I will keep an eye on her for the next couple of days... Do you think after a few days we should be in the clear?

 

[Fancyfeetchick]

Just an update if anyone cares:
Goldie is still alive! I'm not sure why... perhaps she really did not eat the wire mesh, but something that looked like one??? The only change in her is that she does not like to be picked up now...and I'm thinking thats either age or that thing is stuck inside her body somewhere!

 

[TeamChaos]

I'm glad she's still alive! (and my chickens have tricked me before- I swore that Ethel ate an earring and I had myself in a fit over it, convinced she was going to drop dead before my very eyes, I was checking every poo for evidence, but she was juuuust fine- about 2 months later I found the earring in the yard! She had eventually spit it out, I guess...)