Will 4 week old chicks risk choking on cherry pips?

[lagondiechooks]

Hi
My chicks are getting a daily run in a play pen moved around the garden. Most of the shade is provided by cherry trees so there are quite a few cherries falling now. Are four week old chicks likely to choke on a cherry pip (up till now we have been deseeding grapes etc) thank you!

 

[chickens really]

I feed Cherries too and my Chickens leave the pit and only eat the fruit.....

 

[MageofMist]

You'd be surprised with the size of the things they can fit in their beaks. I was giving my hen some strawberries when she pulled a whole one out of my hand, I tried to get it but she gulped it down in one go and just stared at me as if asking "What?"

The strawberry was about the same size of her beak. I doubt they'd eat the cherry pips though, they are more likely to eat around the pip than to eat the pip and cherry, and if it doesn't fit down the beak, they won't try and force it down and will instead drop it or fling it. This is from my experience with my silkie chickens and chicks. ^^

If they do eat the pip and it goes down, depending on the size... It'll likely just pass through to the other side, and may even become a tree due to having some of the husk worn away, making it easier to sprout, and having fertilizer. I have found mystery BB gun bullets in my chicken poops from the yard.