Comprehensive list of poisonous plants and trees

[chooks4life]

Highly doubt marijuana seeds killed the roo unless your family member was smoking hydroponic from an unscrupulous grower or seller. I have known a few people in the business and one kid we boarded for a bit was using battery acid, concrete powder, fly spray, hair spray, and basically anything and everything to make the buds he sold worth more because of the toxic effects. This had nothing to do with the marijuana but the seeds in there would have been dangerous.

Marijuana seeds are often fed, legally, to animals. They are in fact an incredibly nutrient rich source that is well worth including in their diet... If you can legally get it where you are. Now they're being sold for human consumption too, but dehulled so you can't grow them, which is stupid, because the endosperm contains the most nutrience... Like eating white bread as opposed to wholegrain. The oil is sold to be consumed and used as a beauty and therapeutic product too. So much for toxic.

I think the vet just couldn't figure out what was wrong with the roo, decided it was poisoned, and blamed it on weed seeds. Pet chooks are at an enormous risk of poisoning because they often live in suburbia and that entire environment is swamped with anti-biological toxins... He probably ate a bug-sprayed cockroach or moth or something. Weed seeds are used as poultry fodder especially, but also fed to all livestock, pets, and humans. Now they are only legal dehulled but in old times they were of course fed whole.

If all farms grew "marijuana" (hemp or various things it is confused with, but synonymous with nonetheless) --- like the law used to be --- they would have a smaller 'footprint' ecologically because of how multipurpose the plant is. It has uses far beyond 'getting high' not least of which are medicinal uses for which it should be legalized immediately, never mind its textile, nutritional, and other uses. No, I'm not a smoker, but neither am I caught up in the propaganda against that plant, which was initially deliberately misclassified as marijuana to allow its illegalization because it posed such a threat against the petrochemical byproduct industry, namely plastics, especially in textiles. It used to be law that every farm had to grow hemp because of how useful it was.

It is not actually 'marijuana', which is a toxic plant nobody smokes or uses, but to which it looks similar; but it's called marijuana since the commercial textiles industries weighed in to banish it as competition, so that's what it's recognized as and that's what we'll call it.

 

[Lorilyn Farms]

Part of the problem with a list of "toxic" plants is defining the term "toxic". It could mean, "causes skin irritation if eaten in excess". That kind of definition is much different than what we usually think of, which is, "fatal".

Personally, I find that list at least 50% hooey. I have tons of those plants in my yard and have directly observed my birds eating some of them, e.g. ground cherries (heck, I eat ground cherries...how can they be considered toxic??).

Overall, I'm much more concerend about man-made substances than plants growing in my yard.

Ditto.

 

[chickenman111]

How deadly are oak leaves to chickens. One of my hens ate some. Shes dead now and I'm wondering if that's what killed her.
Please any advice is welcome

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

How deadly are oak leaves to chickens. One of my hens ate some. Shes dead now and I'm wondering if that's what killed her.
Please any advice is welcome

My chicken pasture has two mature pin oaks in it, and the birds lounge under it every day. Lots of things kill chickens, and some times they drop dead for no apparent reason. I do not think oak leaves are the culprit in this case.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Like many birds chickens are very resistant to toxins in general. I think of them as the goats of the avian world. Often berries etc which would kill us or other livestock are eaten without harm by chickens. I don't think the oak leaves would have done it, but would theorize that if she's eating something so uncommon to a chickens' diet, what else is she eating?

The high tannin level might possibly have hurt her. but chickens seem to cope quite well with it. I can't say the oak leaves did or didn't kill her definitively but when I have observed any chicken eating unusual foliage that the other poultry ignore, I have always found it also eats other things it ought not to. My real advice here would be to do an autopsy. It's an invaluable diagnostic tool, so to speak. I would guess it's too late with this hen but in future this would answer many questions regarding mystery deaths.

Best wishes.

 

[chickenman111]

ok

 

[maddy]

Can anyone tell me the harm of honeysuckle? I just recently planted one on the fence in front of my chicken yard.

 

[chooks4life]

No idea what the harm is, but like anything massive quantities could be an unwise inclusion to the diet.

According to Juliette de Bairacli Levy, who traveled the world to learn ancient remedies for problems, honeysuckle is as follows: a twining plant with red berries and honey-colored flowers; most animals eat the foliage, especially goats, for which reason the French name of the plant is 'goat's-foliage'. The whole plant is medicinal. The flowers are a cardiac tonic, and when pounded and mixed with black treacle formed an old English Gypsy remedy for asthma. Bruised leaves were used for skin issues including ulcers and fistulas. The bark was an aid for joint ills and rheumatism. French gypsies used the inner part of the honeysuckle root as conditioner and vermifuge for horses when mixed with flour and fat. The plant was also used for paralysis, sprains, and worms. Leaves and flowers are fed raw, often chopped and mixed with bran, and the bark flaked then brewed.

She does not give note of any harmful effects and she was always quick to mention anything harmful known about the plants she wrote of; in fact she did not record remedies of many plants because they also had potential harmful effects in high dosages. For example she didn't want to give dosage details on wormwood lest someone overdo it and kill an animal, but one of my sheep ate many kilos of the plant, killed a large shrub of it, and was miraculously healthy for years without any further treatments, so I think Levy was overcautious.

I mention what details she gave of the plant's appearance because many modern plants are cultivars and ornamental breeds which are not reliable and may even be harmful. I have found her information very helpful in past, having used it to save the lives of dogs, cats, sheep, poultry, and other animals. It's even useful for humans. She was training as a vet before she decided to become a herbalist, and had a long career in which she treated the animals of royals from Europe and other countries. Her books can be bought online still. I highly recommend you get at least one. There are a few faults in them but overall they are lifesavers.

Best wishes.

 

[NewbeeDoo]

Speaking of wormwood, have you ever used it for your chooks as a wormer, and what dosage would you start with? Mine battle worms here constantly, and I can't afford the long egg withdraws with as frequently as they get them! Any advice would be helpful! Thanks!

 

[chooks4life]

Yes, I have used it with the poultry, without any issues. But being a little worried about toxicity I never continued it for long. I worm my chooks once a month, in the days before the full moon, since at that time the worm species that don't inhabit the intestinal tract as a rule are moving into it in order to reproduce; worming at other times will only get some species of worms, and using harsh chemicals to worm the species which inhabit organs leaves their bodies to rot inside the organs of the animal. This might be lifesaving in heart worm infestation but overall for obvious reasons you don't want your animals' liver and heart and lungs (etc) riddled with rotting foreign bodies. For this reason slow and natural and well-timed wormers are (for me) by far the better and safer choice as compared to chemical wormers that you administer at any time. Also worms and parasites cannot become immune to natural wormers and they don't do secondary harm if used within reason, and you can continue to consume the eggs and birds. In general the animals won't eat more than they need, so force feeding would be necessary to toxify them.

I would use one whole dried or raw wormwood leaf per every five or more adult chickens, per day, and I wouldn't worm for more than around two to seven days in succession before the full moon. Even one feed including wormwood is better than none and ought to help. I haven't used wormwood exclusively or in large quantity to worm, but use multiple things, in conjunction or separately. I also haven't used wormwood for infants, and generally reserved it for when I got in new adult stock and wanted to be sure they weren't carrying any worms. If your animals have never had sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme or any other aromatic herbs with volatile oils and strong medicinal properties, then I'd suggest to use them before wormwood, to help their guts build up the necessary processing capacities.

I use raw garlic in their main feed as a rule but during the waxing of the moon I might either add the extra worming aids to the feed itself or make them up into a special mix of treats, like wholegrain bread sandwiches with yogurt or honey, or a wet feed mix of anything they like. Then I'd dish it out in many small piles, or scatter it, while they're free ranging so no dominant bird takes more than its share. Intestinal worms love all sugars and dairy products so adding honey and yogurt to anything used for worming tends to make it more effective.

The thing about wormwood is that like the sulfur in garlic it works by toxifying anything below a size that's able to process that level. So a chicken can eat a whole culm/bulb of garlic without harm (but would generally stick to two or so cloves) but that level of sulfur would be very harmful to its parasites, both internal and external. Cayenne is another good wormer, being a bit of a blunt force sort of instrument in that it doesn't require the worm to consume it to do harm, but burns through their protective mucus and destroys their eggs likewise. (Of course if the worm consumes cayenne, it would die a rapid death). This is why it would appear to help with breaking the cycle of Blackhead.

Best wishes.