Is it Unhealthy to let a bird eat Plaster of Paris ?

I have Plaster of Paris ALL OVER THE PLACE.

big 10 pound 'pills' of it outside, leftover from making Ammonium Nitrate, dissolved in water (you mix Ammonium Nitrate & Calcium Nitrate, sort of like the molecular version of Wife-swapping. )

And, indoors, boxes of Plaster of Paris powder, for making molds (for metal casting).

I also have pieces of Plaster of Paris scattered around. I use one of the bathrooms as a pattern-making workshop, and there was a piece of hardened Plaster of Paris near the bathtub.

One of the pet birds got up there, and she ate every speck of "the white stuff", plaster of paris.

Is it Unhealthy to let a bird eat Plaster of Paris ?

Anyway, I'm thinking of bringing one of the 10 pound pills indoors so the bird can peck at that. She has been trying to get inside one of the boxes of dry Plaster of Paris powder for about 2 weeks.

The miniature birds that I let run around indoors also peck the plaster board in the wall. There is this sound like an indoor wood pecker, and it is the birds pecking away at the walls, that white chalky wall stuff.


Side Note -
I was actually thinking of feeding some of the "pills" to some fruit trees. Since they have Calcium & Sulfur in Abundance, I just need to match them up with some Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Magnesium pills.

I think it's okay for them as long as it's just plaster of paris and not anything with a bunch of additives. I don't have a bird but did some googling, it looks like they make mineral chew things for pet birds out of plaster of paris and birds are known to chew on them if they need calcium, like the way some animals will use a salt lick when their sodium levels are low.

(Gypsum) Plaster of Paris is mixed 50/50 with corn meal to kill mice. If they eat enough an internal butt-plug occurs and causes a painful death.
Chances are the birds won't ingest enough powder to cause internal blockages, probably, maybe.
Actual hard Cured gypsum ingested should pass through them without problem, I would assume, since they got it down their throats.

Gypsum is calcium sulfate (CaSO 4) and is approximately 23.3 percent Calcium and 18.5 percent Sulphur (a.k.a. Plaster of Paris).
Cuttlefish bone is a much better Calcium source for pet birds as it doesn't have a toxic overabundance of sulphur (debatable) in its natural composition, more bird diet friendly for hookbilled and soft billed birds.
You've altered the gypsum chemistry with the ammonia infusion. imho, I wouldn't feed on purpose.
You never mention what type of birds you keep, outside of being mini birds...they sound perhaps to be free ranging Bantam (mini) chickens, quail?

Vandenberg

Vandenberg said:

(Gypsum) Plaster of Paris is mixed 50/50 with corn meal to kill mice. If they eat enough an internal butt-plug occurs and causes a painful death.
Chances are the birds won't ingest enough powder to cause internal blockages, probably, maybe.
Actual hard Cured gypsum ingested should pass through them without problem, I would assume, since they got it down their throats.

Gypsum is calcium sulfate (CaSO 4) and is approximately 23.3 percent Calcium and 18.5 percent Sulphur (a.k.a. Plaster of Paris).
Cuttlefish bone is a much better Calcium source for pet birds as it doesn't have a toxic overabundance of sulphur (debatable) in its natural composition, more bird diet friendly for hookbilled and soft billed birds. You've altered the chemistry with the ammonia infusion. imho, I wouldn't feed it to any living thing on purpose.

Click to expand...

2 separate things. One is feeding NPK, CaMgS to plants.


The other is, the birds pecking at the walls & binging on styrofoam.

They're chickens & Silkies.

Are they getting grit and oyster shell