Very Odd:-This Caused A Compacted Crop In One Of My Chickens

[dinosaw]

Unfortunately my Welsummer has been under the weather lately with a compacted crop, fortunately after two days of feeding her olive oil and massaging her crop which was rock hard it has finally cleared. When I came to poo pick the isolation coop I had kept her in I found the item pictured which she had pooed out. At first I thought it was a large stalk of a plant or something like that, but no it is SOLID RUBBER, no wonder her crop was blocked!!. I haven't got a clue what it is or how it got into the garden but even more puzzling is why and indeed how she managed to eat it. As you can see in the second photo it is quite large in comparison to the size of her beak and that is with my thumb covering part of it, and then she tried to eat it again while I was holding it for the photo the stupid bird 07 . Has anyone got any idea what it is? and have your birds ever eaten anything this big?. Incidentally I always find it interesting how chickens know just what they need at any point in time, she went at the olive oil like there was no tomorrow while turning her nose up at everything else.

 

[tygrysek75]

It is a huge ruber,any idea what this was used orginally? I had noticed that they eat wall insulation ans styrofoam too.Somehow they drawed to eat this.I think it may have something to do with the texture of those item as have no taste watsoever.Whit this rubber thing it may look for them like huge maggot or sonething simular.

 

[chrismahon]

I thought the same as Tygrysek. Looks like a massive maggot. Our oldest hen, Henrietta a Blue Orpington, saw a 2" maggot (I gave it to her) and ate it in one (really, there are some that big here). It could have easily been that bit of rubber. Where that came from I can't imagine -never seen the like?

 

[Margaid]

You have said it's rubber but it looks rather like one of the new artificial corks you get in wine bottles, except that the bottom doesn't look smooth enough. As for how it got in your garden it could have been dropped by another bird such as a seagull or crow - unless someone just threw it over your hedge or whatever

 

[Marigold]

I kept mine on rubber chippings for several years and had no problems, they never ate them, so its probably the shape more than the material, as you say.

 

[dinosaw]

Thanks all, I hadn't thought about it looking like a maggot to a chicken, so that would make sense. Whatever it actually is I reckon they probably dug it up as it certainly doesn't look new. They have been digging up old blue pottery, rusted pieces of ironwork and old fireplace tiles down the bottom of the garden so who knows what else was dumped there in the past.