Chewing wood

[jdomep]

My lovely little Jenny has decided her stall door tastes good

I have never had a horse do this so I am not sure what to do about Priscilla's new habit?? She shares a stall with Willy so I thought she wasn't bored?

Any Ideas would be helpful??

 

[USMCshamusmom]

when I was a young girl I was told equines chew wood to get at the grain !

(ok, that is really old, but still funny to me)

it is a grazing animal's nature to chew all the time. Even with companionship an active and inquisitive critter will tase, lick and chew different surfaces, including each other. I have had success putting a hay net outside the stall or outside the fence and making the animal work through the bars or fencing to pick individual strands of hay through the fence or stall to get it... it keeps their minds occupied and gives them a bit to chew at , more closely simulating a grazing experience. Cautions would be to make sure they can't pull the haynet through the fence or stall bars and accidently get a leg or their faces wrapped in the net... keeping the net very full of coarse hay will help prevent this from happening. You might also try one of those little round balls they sell now that have bars on them sort of like giant wiffle balls. Stuff those very tightly with hay so little wisps stick out and they can pull at those and push them around the stall trying to get the stuff out of them... again, causes them to have to work their minds a bit and gives them a little to chomp on instead of wood, walls, each other, etc.... hope this helps....

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

I have finally come to the conclussion that...donkeys have to be nortorious for wood chewing! Not one of my horses will chew on wood, but you should see how nice the donkeys are "carving" the stalls for me!!!

, I have tried EVERYTHING, I have balls, haynets, companions, stop-chew, NOTHING is working! (much short of keeping them outside constantly, which I wont do in Wisconsin weather.) They get fed grain, good quality hay, vitamins, and minerals, so they sure cant be missing anything..but yet they chew and chew..and not just one, but I have 3 chewers!

 

[shminifancier]

I guess Corinne. I have been lucky then with my Donks as non of them have chewed on my barn...But I should add that there is lots of places where over the years because I have put used motor oil on the wood because of wood chewing mini's and other horses it is still on the wood and may still small bad for the donkeys to chew...I don't know but that is all I can think of..

 

[Ashley]

Yep donkeys love wood. Ours do not go in pastures that have trees, if they do they are coverd with a mesh wire or they tend to chew so much they kill them.

 

[dbarjminis]

Yep, I agree with Corrine and Ashley. Donkeys simply love to chew and wood is a favorite. Honestly Donkeys are like puppies! Anything they can pick up and play with or chew on is a favorite past time. Mine are like little beavers in my barn and even starting to chew on the 4x6 posts it's built with, we're going to wrap them with tin as soon as it warms up, cause nothing stops them. Also, mine have either free choice pasture or hay, minerals, a handful of grain, and plenty of room to roam.

 

[jdomep]

Geesh you guys are no help :

Just kidding well atleast she is normal - for awhile I thought she was chewing on Willy he had a hairless spot - but it looks like he was itchy and I caught him doing it him self... Gotta love these little guys. She did mutilate her mineral block maybe I'll get a BIG one??? Thanks guys

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Welllllllll, if only we could start a new breed of donkeys...the non-chewing version!

This is going to cost me a fortune to replace all that wood! ANd hubby....ohhhhh, we wont even go there!!!!! fftopic kidding of course...I think!

Got to LOVE those little mischief makers!

 

[tigeresss]

Don't know about donkies but I would assumed they are the same. Assuming all your minerals/vitamins etc are at the proper amounts...they just love to chew. It's basically somthing to do because in hte "wild" they would be eating all day right. Anyways basically try feeding them more times a day if you can?? I feed my horses four times a day and well that's not even enough but hey. Also many people recomend putting chicken wire up around the trees or on the wood but to be honest that's a bad idea. There have been some bad outcomes in that respect. You also run a worse risk of having the horse get wire cuts.