TheFeatheredFiend Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 (edited) I was just reading through the list of poisonous plants in the Omlet Chicken FAQ and was concerned to see many that are in our garden including horse chestnut, buttercup and english ivy. The FAQ suggests that chickens know what not to eat but we do have a LOT of buttercups and ivy, and the conker tree covers a large part of the garden. We've also got wild foxgloves, daffodils, tulips, some kind of nightshade (white flowers) and lots and lots of clover. Is it going to be a problem? *****edited for additional***** On the subject of poisons, we also keep parrots and one of the biggest toxic killers of captive parrots is zinc. You can absolutely not use galvanised equipment, food or water bowls. Even the cage bars have to be zinc free. But I see that galvanised stuff is commonly used with chickens so I assume that they don't share the parrots' sensitivity to zinc, yes? *****edited again for speeling!***** Edited February 16, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jools Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Probably not. If they're free-ranging and have lots of choice, the do tend to leave the unhealthy stuff alone and concentrate on destroying more palatable plants. If they're in a run, I'd just make sure that none of the poisonous stuff gets blown in as anything vaguely green might get wolfed down without a second thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I wouldn't worry too much - they do seem to know what they can eat, and even when they eat 'forbidden' stuff (like rhubarb) it doesn't seem to do them any harm - I suspect that the poisonous dose is probably quite large for a lot of these. A very good point above about ensuring it can't blow into or be reached from their run, if it was the only source of greenery available they might eat a lot more of it, but generally when they are browsing they will move from one thing to another. Chicken drinkers are commonly made from galvanised metal, so I would guess that zinc is not a problem for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I've got quite a few poisonous plants in my garden too including daphne, foxgloves, daffodils, wolfbane and tulips and as Olly suggests my chooks do seem to pass them by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mafia princess Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Well, we have various ivy plants around the garden and when the girls come out to free range they always end up chomping on the ivy by the decking. There is now a 2 foot gap between the deck and the line of green leaves! They scatter a lot which makes me think they are really after the bugs hiding in there but they definately down a fair few leaves too. So far it has not done them any harm and they are still producing beautiful eggs. Not sure if this puts your mind at rest but I just thought it might help to know that the chooks will do as they please regardless of any precautions we take! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
