cluck and henry Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Hello I have read on this site that foxgloves are a bad thing for chickens to eat. We have tried to have a balance so we have a garden and chickens without having to give too much one way or the other. We do have foxgloves in our garden as we really enjoy looking at them and love listening to the bees singing when they are inside of them, (well, that is what it sounds like to us!) Up until recently the ladies have ignored the foxgloves and scratched and pecked at other things. Now it seems they want to eat them all the time. If they can rip off a chunk of leaf and gobble it up before I grab it out of their mouth they will. (I have to stand guard.) Which I suppose does look a little funny. Can anyone tell me what these plants will do to the ladies in the event of me not getting the leaves out of their mouths. Or is it the flowers that are the problem and not the leaves. I do know there have been times when I have not stopped them from swallowing the leaves. No runny tummies, lameness, grumpiness or any adverse effects as far as I can see or is it a very slow process in a build up? Thanks for any advice you can give Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I think the digitalis family is poisonous to everything. Having said that, mine ate a couple of plants last year and it didn't do them any harm. If your foxgloves are in a border, could you put a low chicken wire fence around the base of each one to stop the girls shredding them. That is what I plan on doing this year. Hopefully the surrounding plants will hide the chicken wire?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Foxgloves contain digitalis which slows the heart rate. Definitely poisonous to birds of all types.. I would put some netting round it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen&Lee Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I think it would be the actual flower and pollen that has the digitalis bit and not the leaves (As a child I always remember being told not to put my finger up the tube of the flower ) Lupins are also not good for chooks to eat but as with Laburnum I think its the seed pod bit thats poisonious. Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire Chooks Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I think thats wrong. I thing the the leaves are also full of cardiac glycosides. If I remember correctly, William Withering saw a lady with dropsy (ankle oedema due to congestive cardiac failure)when his coach stopped on the road from Birmingham to Stafford. On the return journey, the lady had trim ankles which he was informed was due to taking foxglove leaves. This has been the basis of digoxin therapy ever since. Digoxin has been in and out of favour in the last 30 years but as well as producing bradycardia, is a superb inotrope - pretty well the only agent that does this in oral form (ie as well as lowing the heart rate it makes the heart muscle pump more efficiently). Withering is revered at Birmingham Medical School and also by the Royal College of Physicians of London, because of his discovery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire Chooks Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 As I thought, the leaves are a problem. http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/trial_records/17th_18th_Century/withering/withering_biog.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolo Rabbit Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 So if they do eat the leaves, they certainly won't have fat ankles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen&Lee Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I think thats wrong. I thing the the leaves are also full of cardiac glycosides. If I remember correctly, William Withering saw a lady with dropsy (ankle oedema due to congestive cardiac failure)when his coach stopped on the road from Birmingham to Stafford. On the return journey, the lady had trim ankles which he was informed was due to taking foxglove leaves. This has been the basis of digoxin therapy ever since. Digoxin has been in and out of favour in the last 30 years but as well as producing bradycardia, is a superb inotrope - pretty well the only agent that does this in oral form (ie as well as lowing the heart rate it makes the heart muscle pump more efficiently). Withering is revered at Birmingham Medical School and also by the Royal College of Physicians of London, because of his discovery. I stand corrected Font of knowledge this forum Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
