Chewing wood - driving me mad

[Litorio]

Hi everyone

My donkey has a habit hat is driving me mad, he chews wood, not trees but fence/stable wood. I've put electric up around all of the fences to stop him chewing which has worked around most of the field but he's chewing the yard/stables to bits.

I've tried supplements like salt and seaweed that have been suggested to me and he has a special 'donky diet'. he will even get into the bedding stable to break into he shavings and eat them.

Any sugestions as to why he is doing this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys

 

[stencilface]

To stop him doing it you could paint a nice mix of horse poo with some water onto the fences - they don't like the taste of that so much!

As for eating wood, ours quite like to chew on ash branches in the summer so maybe he just has a taste for it? As long as its not affecting him or poisonous I wouldn't worry - it is after all how they would fulfill their dietary needs in the wild

 

[Litorio]

Selfish i know, but i'm not worried about him, i doubt it's doing him any harm it's just it's costing me to fix what he destroys lol i've even tried chilli paste, mustard, and crib off on the fences but he still eats them!

 

[stencilface]

I would try the poo paint mix, my horses face was a picture when he tried to bit on that! And leave a few chunky bits on......

 

[Litorio]

unfortunately i've tried that one too....

he just licked the poo off!

he's one strange donkey

 

[spaniel]

Could you find him a nice big fallen branch or a root stump and put that out for him?

 

[Litorio]

I had thought of that but i'm not sure what would be poisonous or not??

 

[mik]

did he eat chili paste! Then he must be a mexican donkey... mine (horses), didnt like sambal oelek much.

 

[spaniel]

Hmmmm....will consult my poisonous plants book and get back to you!

 

[Litorio]

sambal oelek?? whats that?

Yes he ate chilli paste lol just pulled faces and drank a lot whilst chewing it lol

 

[Litorio]

Thank you!

 

[stencilface]

Ash is ok for them I think, as is willow. Ours crunch on ash leaves and branches and never suffer.

 

[Litorio]

ours eat oak leaves and conifers which i know is bad

 

[mik]

sambal oelek is a STRONG chili paste, but yours would probably love it. I heard somewhere they do a lion wee spray to keep cats off of peoples lawns? you never know?

 

[Honeypots]

Have you had his teeth checked at all? or could it be boredom?

 

[Birker2020]

Are you sure its not gastric ulcers that he has as a symptom of this is chewing wood? Is he windsucking whilst doing it, if so like the previous reply said it could be that he is bored.

 

[Litorio]

teeth are fine, he has play balls and stuff and a snak-a-ball to keep him occupied and he doesn't wind suck he just eats lol

 

[nuffield]

In my experience wood chewing is often a sign of lack of salt in the diet even if the animal has access to a salt like. try adding some salt, say, a desert spoon daily for a donkey, to some soaked sugarbeet or suitable mix.

 

[kellyeaton]

has he enough hay coz he may be he needs more fibre thats why he his doing it!

 

[Donkeymad]

It is a very normal thing for donkeys to chew wood. Two things you can do are
1/ Feed plenty of straw
2/ Give tree branches to chew, sycamore and willow are good ones, but most trees are safe.