My Chickens Must have a Styrofoam Deficiency

[schmije]

We have a shelf in our barn (where the chicken coop is) where we keep a stack of old egg cartons for carrying eggs into the house. Our chickens recently discovered this stack and started knocking them onto the floor, then dragging them into the yard where we later found them mutilated. After this happened several times, I found a milk crate and put the remainder of my dwindling stack into it.

For about a week, the cartons were untouched. When I closed them up tonight I found that they had plucked every styrofoam carton out of the milk crate, smashed them, and left the only paper carton alone. What the heck is wrong with them? Are they really that bored? <sigh>

 

[lesa]

Too funny! An old farmer told me that he used to actually feed his chickens Styrofoam, claimed it stopped egg eating....

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Yeah, mine eat Styrofoam too. I don't know why but they seem to like it. The Styrofoam will be a good amendment to the garden soil when their poop finally gets through the compost to the garden.

 

[digitS']

I once got a very early order of chicks and put them in my greenhouse during late winter. It was a pretty good place for them.

After they got out of the brooder, they had plenty of floor space and protection from the elements. We seldom get very much sun during that time of the year so there wasn't much of a chance for them to overheat.

The foundation walls extend high enuf that the chicks couldn't reach the foil covered insulation board that covers the interior walls (& fiberglass insulation), on the north and parts of the east and west. . . . but, they grew. The chicks did, that is. By the time I got them out of there and into the coop, they were tall enuf to start pecking their way into the walls!!

It can't do them much good. If they fill up on styrofoam, it has to mean that they aren't filling up on digestible food. I don't know if they would be obsessive enuf to eat it to some point of starvation but, at my place, it looked like they were eating themselves out of house & home!!

. . . then there are rubber bands . . .

Steve

 

[desertlady]

I thought My chickens was the only one ! I got this styrofoam ice chest on my back porch, they chewed it up all into pieces !!! I was worry if they were gonna die, but they are fine !. They can be bored. I always give them something to do like throw same hay, or corn etc . to keep them busy.

 

[HotPepperQueen]

My chickens had a beautifully insulated floor for cold MN winters. But no, they had to go underneath the coop, jump up and eat the foam. I just found a 2ft by 8ft sheet laying on the ground this morning. They're obsessed!

 

[hoodat]

I had a goose that ate styro ice chests when he could find them. SQEAK SKWAK SQUAWK, It was like fingernails on a blackboard SHEESH!!!.

 

[secuono]

Styrofoam is crack to chickens, case closed. They all love the stuff and they all go stupid for it. Why? We'll never know.

 

[schmije]

I wasn't expecting so many people to jump on board with this subject. I was afraid I was being a bad chicken mommy by not restricting this behavior, but it looks like I'm not the only one. Honestly I didn't really see the point since nobody was showing ill effects. My biggest motivation to stop them is to avoid replacing my coop cartons again.

 

[schmije]

Well it happened again. This morning I left my 5 remaining coop cartons in the milk crate. 2 were paper and 3 were styrofoam. Tonight all 3 styrofoam cartons are gone - presumably shredded in the yard. The two paper cartons are untouched and still in the milk crate. I just don't get it.

Oh well. I guess there are bigger things to worry about.