Keets eating OAK LEAVES?!

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

We like to give the keets new "toys" to play with every now and again. This week, in addition to a big branch to climb on, my daughter put a small oak branch with a bunch of leaves in the brooder box.

For the first few days, the keets ignored the oak branch and its leaves. However, now that the heat lamp has completely dried out the leaves so that they are crispy, they are EATING them. What's up with that? Has anyone else seen guineas do this?

 

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

Here are the cuties ignoring their oak branch when it was fresh:

And I just went out and got this pic tonight. You can see they've been enjoying it to pieces:

 

[Akane]

Chickens and guineas will eat any plant matter they can get when confined. Oak is not a good choice though. It is extremely high in tannic acid and could prove toxic if they eat too much of it.