I wanted to know if I should be concerned about my hen eating a rather large (one of those fat ones you find on produce in grocery stores) elastic band? Will it just go through its system, or will my hen get sick? One of my kids must have been playing with the elastic band outside and left it lying around. I hope my hen will be okay. Brownie
I know plenty of mammals and a fish that have eaten rubber bands and had no issue. I'm not as certain with birds since I don't know if a rubber band can be ground up with grit but they usually pass pretty easily through the digestive tract. I'd just make sure she has access to some good grit and wait.
We had quite a few rubber bands on the deck that fell thru the cracks. This Summer the hens were under there a lot. Every couple of days, one would run out from under the deck with a rubber band in her beak. The other hens would chase her around the yard . Sometimes, we could get the rubber band away from her but usually not. Sometimes, there were some nasty snapping incidents between 2 hens . Washing away the poop on the lawn several days later uncovered the rubber bands. Usually, they were in small fragments but always broken. You should know that these were the size you'd find on rolled newspapers the newsboys will throw in the yard. They weren't the huge bands. Impacted crops are no fun and I worried a little about that but it never happened. Here is wishing you similar luck. Steve