Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[Patricia7455]

Could the Omleteers advise me on whhat plants are poisonous for chickens, and which would be nice to grow for them to eat?

I know that laburnum is poisonous and I think laurel is too. We have a couple of bushes that look like laurel, the new leaves in Spring are a beautiful red colour and it gets white flowers on later. Would this be poisonous to chickens?

 

We have a lot of nettles growing on a common nearby and I thought it might be a good idea to pick handfuls of them to hang up in the run, but then I read that they are too bitter.

 

Also, are grass clippings bad for hens? I always thought they would give them a blockage in their crops, but then I read that you could give fresh grass clippings to hens to make their yolks a lovely colour.

 

Thanks for reading this query. I am thinking about making my garden hen friendly for when I get them!

[Hen Watch]

I really would not worry too much. Here is the list that you want:

 

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=22559&view=unread#unread

 

My chooks have never eaten the daffodils, laurel, roededendron (sp?) or ivy in my garden. They jump on them yes...... lots of squashed daffs.... but they don't eat them.

 

Edit to say: I don't give grass clippings in case of impacted crop.

[alih]

Rhubarb and ivy are meant to be poisonous to hens but mine have snaffled both with gusto and never suffered. grass clippings can give them impacted crop so I would avoid them- for yellow yolks you can give them broccoli or green cabbage hung up in the run - they love it too!

[Carol U]

I wouldn't worry about plants. They'll help themselves to whatever they like the taste of and ignore things like laurel. If you want to put anything in their run, hanging up any sort of green vegetable works well.