Chickens are known for being very curious, and will sometimes eat things that they shouldn't. Some of the most common items include bedding, insulation, yard and grass cuttings, plant material, baling twine, and hardware used for run or coop construction.
When large amounts of non-digestible material (insulation, bedding, twine, plant material, plastics, etc.) are consumed, it can cause a GI impaction.
If chickens eat small, non-digestible metal objects (staple, tack, small screw, piece from hardware cloth, etc.), it can get stuck in their digestive tract. When this occurs, there are two potential, significant issues which can occur:
- If the object is sharp and gets stuck in the gizzard, due to the strong grinding motion that occurs in the gizzard, there is a high risk of that object puncturing a hole in the gizzard wall. Damage to the gizzard is fatal, as it will interfere with their ability to digest the food they eat, if a secondary bacterial infection doesn't kill them first.
- The second scenario which can occur is if the object contains zinc or lead, and gets stuck anywhere along their digestive tract, it can cause heavy metal poisoning.
