Chicken Coop Plans

Chickens and ducks are attracted to shiny things they find on the ground like spare change, nails, screws, hooks, aluminum foil, earrings, bits of wire, pieces of glass, staples and the like. This is extremely dangerous and can lead to serious health problems and even death as the heavy metals break down, enter the blood stream and slowly poison the bird - or sharp edges perforate the intestine, leading to infection. It can take days or weeks for symptoms to emerge, and by that time its generally too late. Ducks, especially, are prone to Hardware Disease (or Heavy Metal Poisoning), which is very hard to treat, but easily preventable. 

The photo above contains the actual things that I have found unearthed in our run just in the last few weeks. I check our run and the entire area around the barn where our chickens and ducks often free range religiously for sharp things and foreign objects, but they seem to dig things up faster than I can remove them. Construction materials and supplies left over and buried in the dirt from previous owners always seem to be resurfacing, despite my best efforts. I think the chickens scratch up the objects and then the ducks risk ingesting them. I am lumping pieces of glass into this article, even though its not technically considered a cause of hardware disease, glass can cause internal lacerations and injury from being swallowed accidentally.

Ducks even more than chickens seem love to eat shiny things and can easily suffer copper, zinc or lead poisoning, lacerations or worse if they ingest things like spare change, pieces of metal, wire or glass. I fact, Heavy Metal Disease is the number one killer of pet ducks, but chickens can sometimes swallow things they shouldnt as well. So do your flock and yourself a favor and sweep their area regularly. If you DO suspect your duck or chicken has swallowed something, get her to a vet ASAP for x-rays, a blood test and check for internal lacerations.  

If a chicken or duck displays any of these symptoms or you even suspect they have swallowed something toxic, get them to the vet immediately for an x-ray and blood test to check for traces of metal.

As with many things, prevention is far easier than trying to treat this affliction, so its important to be aware of these simple ways to prevent ingestion of foreign objects.

-Avoid using galvanized metal feeders, waterers and fencing. 

-Dont use glass in our around the run or coop.

-Check bales of hay, straw and shavings for debris before using them as bedding.

-Have your soil and water tested for heavy metals and take steps to treat any excess or limit your flocks exposure to the contaminated soil or water - i.e. locate coop in a different area or use filtered or bottled water.

Treatments for Hardware Disease

-A chelating agent which works by binding with and filtering the heavy metal out of the body. 
-Vitamin B complex (thiamine in particular) to prevent further poisoning and allow the body tissues to recover.
-Anti-convulsants to prevent seizures.
-Bulking agents can be fed to assist in removing small particles from the intestine.
-Surgery under anesthesia to remove large piece of metal.
-Antibiotics to prevent infection while the body is recovering.
-Euthanasia if surgery isnt an option.

But again, an ounce of prevention IS worth a pound of cure, so be super vigilant about keeping your chicken and duck area free of metal debris and you shouldnt have any troubles.