Psyllium

[azygous]

Is it safe to give psyllium to chickens? (Metamucil)

Recently, I had a hen die. I cut the corpse open to examine the organs and found crop, gizzard, and stomach all packed with sand. A friend says she gives her horses psyllium when they've been eating weeds with a lot of sand on them and it helps to clean out their over-loaded system. Could it work for chickens?

 

[Wisher1000]

I have no experience with this, but if you only gave them a little, I can't imagine how it could hurt. I think I would try mixing it in the water. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Percheron chick]

No. You can't compare the digestive system of a chicken to that of a horse. Chickens need sand and grit to breakdown their food and make it available for digestion. It basically does the function of teeth. The sand could of been too fine to do the job and if she didn't have a source of grit, she was trying to satisfy that need with the sand. Personally, I would never buy grit but mine are out 10+ hours a day and can take care of their needs. Do your's have access to some type of grit that is at least 1/8"? Start there even if you have to go buy a small bag of something. Pick something up at Home Depot in the gardening section and just dump the bag in the run.

 

[azygous]

Thanks for the responses. I still have no idea why my hen's organs were stuffed full of sand. She had been suffering from sour crop, and had lost a lot of weight.

I have nineteen other chickens, and they all seem fine. The run is sand, but coarse construction stuff. They also get free-range time, and there are all sizes of rocks and gravel all over the place. I've never bought grit in the six years I've had chickens.

I have a rooster who is currently not eating. I've been giving him olive oil in case he has impacted crop. He's also molting, and he may be off his feed from that. But if he's full of sand, too, maybe a little bit of psyllium could help.

I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried it.

 

[Chris09]

Was you using sand as a grit, what type of sand was it?

 

[azygous]

Yes, construction sand.

 

[Chris09]

If the construction sand is a coarse sand you should have been just fine using it, I know that there are different grades of sand that is used in construction and some can be quite fine.
I'v been using All Purpose Sand for 10 or so years now and never had a problem. You said that they had sand in there crop, gizzard, and stomach, there shouldn't have been that much sand past the gizzard unless there was a problem with the digestive system. The only reason for any grit being past the gizzard would be if it was to small to do any good in the gizzard, then the gizzard ''releases'' it and then it gets passed in the birds stool. The psyllium may have something to do with this and bound her up if you gave it to her.

 

[pdw]

You can absolutely feed psyllium to your chickens .A global group of scientists have found it lowers blood cholesterol in chickens which lowers cholesterol n their eggs .It produces healthier chickens with stronger egg shells . You want o not add too much to their feed about 10 grams too feed to one teaspoon of Psyllium

 

[Appleflipper]

You can absolutely feed psyllium to your chickens .A global group of scientists have found it lowers blood cholesterol in chickens which lowers cholesterol n their eggs .It produces healthier chickens with stronger egg shells . You want o not add too much to their feed about 10 grams too feed to one teaspoon of Psyllium

Thank you for this information! Very helpful!

 

[Appleflipper]

Is it safe to give psyllium to chickens? (Metamucil)

Recently, I had a hen die. I cut the corpse open to examine the organs and found crop, gizzard, and stomach all packed with sand. A friend says she gives her horses psyllium when they've been eating weeds with a lot of sand on them and it helps to clean out their over-loaded system. Could it work for chickens?

Hi! I grind up egg shells and give them back to the hens in their feed. It can really help them too. I save the shells and when I have a good pile, I just stick them in a thick bag and smash them with a mallet. I also add psyllium husk to their food. Good luck and I hope your girls stay well!