How bad is Styrofoam?

[Wickedchicken6]

I just lost a pullet to a chunk of styrofoam. The necroscopy revealed a chunk of styrofoam 1x.5 inches stuck in her crop, it basically caused her to starve despite the fact that she had been tube fed for the past week. It is amazing that she was able to swallow it but she did and it killed her.

I'm so sorry to hear about your hen.

That's a sizeable piece...wow.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Styrofoam is already expanded and grit should take care of it. I don't know if they metabolize it or just expel it, but mealworms actually metabolize it.

Meal worms a.k.a. darkling beetles are a major pest in commercial poultry operations. The worms or maggots burrow into the insulation board in the walls of chicken houses in order to pupate or undergo metamorphosis and in doing so destroy the poultry houses. The deep litter in commercial poultry houses, the spilled chicken feed, and moisture underneath the manure cake on the top of the litter, all combines to make the perfect environment in which to grow meal worms.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Meal worms a.k.a. darkling beetles are a major pest in commercial poultry operations. The worms or maggots burrow into the insulation board in the walls of chicken houses in order to pupate or undergo metamorphosis and in doing so destroy the poultry houses. The deep litter in commercial poultry houses, the spilled chicken feed, and moisture underneath the manure cake on the top of the litter, all combines to make the perfect environment in which to grow meal worms.

They actually eat the styrofoam for food. I'm raising some on it right now.

 

[Mrs. Light Sussex]

They actually eat the styrofoam for food. I'm raising some on it right now.

Cool!
What nutritional value does it have? LOL

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

My birds also eat Styrofoam if they find any.. they have small pebbles available. All my birds are fine and healthy and have never gotten sick. I found they ate an entire 2' board of it before I could put it away. I just figured they were weird. Glad to know other birds do this lol.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

They actually eat the styrofoam for food. I'm raising some on it right now.

View attachment 1269493

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Cool!
What nutritional value does it have? LOL

Styrofoam is just made of hydrogen and carbon atoms, so it's the same fuel as anything else.

Here's a layman's report
https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/us/styrofoam-eating-mealworms-plastic-waste/index.html

Here's the science abstracts
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b02661
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b02663

 

[deepbluesea]

I had a bag of those god-awful styrofoam packing peanuts tear and have been picking them out of the hedge for weeks. The girls do seem to think they're a delicacy. Glad to read it mostly won't hurt them. I've gotten most of it up, but not sure how much they chomped.