Acres of Poison Ivy

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Hello everyone,

i have a bit of a predicament - well really I have acres of issues

I plan to free range my chickens but realistically we’re gonna see what happens. I’m pretty sensitive to poison ivy and really not like deadly or anything but if it touches me I’m getting it and last poison ivy I had was around my eye and on my eye lid. And let me tell you me and steroids turn straight into roid rage and my marriage was hanging on...well a thin vine
Kudos to my husband for telling me to “pull that vine off the tree!” Turns out that thick fuzzy vine was dormant poison ivy - yay me. Guess I touched my eye along the way as well now I’m horrified of the poison ivy because I have had too many poor experiences not that any experience with ivy is all that great

anyways since we started clearing the woods from large trees it seems as if we gave the right light for all the poison ivy to grow and literally take over as our natural ground cover now.
We have bought a large concentrated form of Glyphosate that we’ve treated our dog pen with and some areas around the house as our 15 month old is EXTREMELY mobile and treks through the woods tripping and falling into many patches of it and has yet to get any magically on her

however this is not the point my point is with free ranging chickens do we have to worry about their safety among the ivy?
I know all about the lovely transfer that happens when things with fur and feathers brush up against it and don’t absorb it but instead give it as a gift to the next hairless creature that loves up on them.

Would it be safe to treat our woods with Glyphosate or would be be harming the ecosystem?

I want to kill the ivy not all the birds and bees along with it.

I’ve tried to read up on other posts and I’m well aware of the other forms of herbicides that come with a little alchemy involved but if I’m taking my sweet time to spray acres I want a real kill of it and not a seasonal kill.

If we manage to not get it all would the birds be in danger?
Would it be more of a ecological hazard to spray so much area?
Would it make it impossible for any other plants to grow?
From what I’ve read on the bottle you can plant other plants in the same area after a few hours? Does this mean other species of plants might grow back or am I killing the land?

 

[sourland]

Get goats. They love to eat poison ivy.

 

[Isadora]

I'll be waiting to see what people say. We're in a similar predicament here.

 

[NatJ]

I'm pretty sure people are the only ones who have trouble with poison ivy.

Chickens should be fine foraging in that area.

I see you are already aware what will happen when you touch the chickens after they walk through poison ivy.

 

[GardenCityChickens]

I really emphasize with you, I'm very sensitive to poison ivy and have had some bad outbreaks My cat would walk through it and then I would touch the oils off her.

 

[GardenCityChickens]

Get goats. They love to eat poison ivy.

I love this idea of having animals eat it!

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Get goats. They love to eat poison ivy.

I can’t imagine getting more animals at this point. Working our way slowly towards a farm we failed with chicken math and have 27 and still need to build our coop.
I could maybe rent some goats and their dog but we have 4 dogs and there might be some issues there with getting everyone to potty while we have goat visitors and a very work heavy dog.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

I love this idea of having animals eat it!

I love the idea just don’t love the financial and mental stress of adding more animals

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

I really emphasize with you, I'm very sensitive to poison ivy and have had some bad outbreaks My cat would walk through it and then I would touch the oils off her.

Year one living here pregnant AF dogs roaming all in it and rubbing up against my legs. I thought I was going to rip my legs off and throw them away

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Goats browse, not Graze. They will eat the Ivy, and it won't seemingly hurt them, but they won't get rid of it, and they may transfer it to you if you touch them after they've rubbed against it. Transfer can happen with your chickens, too - they are smart enough not to eat a harmful amount of the stuff.

Rather than Glyphosphate, I recommend Triclopyr, which is great for woody vines. 2,4-D, unfortunately, is not. The local forestry services (FL, GA, and AL) all recommend a product with just Tryclopyr for poison ivy control, as opposed to one with both Tryclopyr and 2,4-D.

Source (among others)

You're sure its not Virginia Creeper (some of it???) Just being hopeful here, its often mistaken for poison ivy.