Stinging nettles????

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nanawendy

nanawendy

Songster
10 Years
Dec 28, 2009
1,532
14
151
Bellingham Wa
So I was wondering if the fact that we have stinging nettles OUTSIDE our run( on the corral side) could have a bad effect on the girls if they eat it. DH thinks it is a good deterrent for critters.
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I'm not so sure. Our girls eat anything that is green... Will stinging nettles hurt them?
 
The stinging nettles don't do much to deter predators on our land. But if you cut them down the girls will chow on them for sure. They are an excellent source of nutrition. (for humans too!) Our livestock and ducks love to forage in them.
If you let your chickens out to free range, the nettles can provide a good hiding place and a bit of shade.
 
Critters with beaks, fur or feathers aren't bothered in the least by stinging nettle. Only we "naked apes" have that problem. Some people actually cook it and eat it as a vegetable. My Irish grandmother would yank a bunch and pulverize it with leftover bread, sour milk, whey and potato peels to make crumbles for her chickens. I wish I could remember her rhyme but the gist was if you grab it firmly you don't get stung.
 
I fed my girls nettles this morning. I cut them down and let them sit in boiling water for 20mins, then mashed them all up with a bit of poultry spice. They were a but dubious to start off with but when I checked later it had all been gobbled up! So thankfully I've found a use for all the nettles in my garden finally!
 
I think they may sting less in the earliest part of spring and when wet, after a good rain. Cooking them or drying them inactivates the sting, if you want to eat or feed them.

My chickens never eat them fresh. My sheep never did, either. We get them any place the wild birds poop, along with bramble and nightshade. All the good stuff!
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Darn seeds are tough on the way through their digestive tracts.

If you use gloves that are cloth, they can soak through after awhile and start stinging your hands. Now I use a long handled weeder or spray with vinegar. Either way, the tops end up drying out, before I handle them.
 
My wife and her mother used to feed nettle to baby chickens and ducklings. There was no mortality issues with them unlike those people who purchased from the same batch. The birds would grow faster and stronger than those that did not have this feed.
 
Nettles can be blanched and used as a substitute for spinach. Some say it makes better cream spinach than actual spinach. It also can be cut, shredded and made into pellets for feed. It can also be processed and used as a fiber for clothing or paper.

Stinging Nettle requires high amounts of nitrogen like tobacco (bird poop!) and is being tested/researched as an alternate crop for small tobacco farmers as price support is eliminated.
 

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