Can I Free-Range with Avocado Trees on Property???

[DoubleThink333]

My backyard has some very large avocado trees in it with leaves and fruits falling on the regular... can I still hope to free-range my chickens?

 

[eworms]

I would imagine that you can. Most animals on free range will leave things alone if they're toxic. That's especially the case if they have everything they need. Hungry animals can get desperate, but if there are plenty of seeds and bugs and things to eat, then most chickens might peck an avocado or two, but not make a habit of eating them.

Of course, if you let them free range, keep an eye on them the first few times. They might do something unexpected.

 

[My15Ducks]

Where I live many people feed avocados to poultry and I’ve never heard of anyone having a problem. Our free range poultry have eaten avocados all the time and are ok. I was surprised to hear there could be a problem with them eating avocados because it is so common here

 

[Seaslug]

I think it is the seed of the avocado that can cause an issue -- it is the seed that can cause an issue with dogs.

 

[DoubleThink333]

Where I live many people feed avocados to poultry and I’ve never heard of anyone having a problem. Our free range poultry have eaten avocados all the time and are ok. I was surprised to hear there could be a problem with them eating avocados because it is so common here

Yeah, same here! I had never heard of chickens not being able to consume avocado until a few days ago! The last time I had chickens though, we never had avocado trees on our property so I have zero experience with it one way or another. I think I will have to do some more research on it and find out why avocado is supposedly bad for chickens...

 

[FrostRanger]

Where I live many people feed avocados to poultry and I’ve never heard of anyone having a problem. Our free range poultry have eaten avocados all the time and are ok. I was surprised to hear there could be a problem with them eating avocados because it is so common here

It's just the seed and skin of the fruit that's toxic, the actual fruit itself is perfectly safe

 

[My15Ducks]

It's just the seed and skin of the fruit that's toxic, the actual fruit itself is perfectly safe

Good to know! They don’t eat the seed

 

[U_Stormcrow]

YES. Decidedly, YES.

They will avoid the skin , and the seed.

and sometimes ignore the fruit.

I'm very bad at choosing avocado at the grocery - or using them when planned. The flock have been beneficiary of my shopping failures.

 

[CSKA]

I see from the answers that it safe, but will the chicken tend to ignore or eat the fruit in the tree? I have some trees (not yet producing fruit), so need to know this, because I would like to eat the fruit myself and not having the chicken steal them.

 

[CSKA]

Our free range poultry have eaten avocados all the time and are ok.

Is that straight from the low hanging branches of the tree or you hand them over the avocados?