My Chickens Love to Eat Wood Shavings!

[ErinG]

I have 5 chickens, all about 7 months old. Only one is laying. I originally had straw for bedding, but after our banty had an impacted crop we pulled all straw. Then I started using wood shavings, everyone ate these like crazy, so I pulled those too. It was fine in the summer to have a dirt floor, but we recently moved to a much colder place. I put down sand and that was working well, except today we are having a high of 25 and down to 10 tonight. My chickens were shivering a little, so I knew I had to put something warmer down for them. They are all scratching around eating the shavings. Will they stop doing this at some point when it ceases to be new and exciting? They were immediately much happier with the warmer floor, so I hope no one gets impacted, I do not want to deal with that again!

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Mine did the same thing. They'll now go in and eat some when I've cleaned it out and put fresh stuff down. Mine now do it only occasionally, but not to the point that I worry about it. I can only speak from my experience.

 

[ErinG]

Good to know, thank you

 

[AKsmama]

Mine do it too. We have an unopened bag of pine shavings propped up against the coop and they pecked holes in it and ate some. Hasn't hurt them a bit. I've seen mine eat styrofoam & paper, and when people have culled and opened up crops, they've found screws and all sorts of weird things. As long as they're not eating only that, I wouldn't worry too much.