Can my chickens eat licorice plant from my yard

[caityfam1]

My son has been feeding our hens bits of wild licorice plant from our yard and the chickens love it. I told him to hold off from feeding them it, until I find out if it's safe or not. I cannot find anywhere online discussing licorice plant and if it's safe for chickens. I've only read one ridiculously long list of supposedly toxic items for chickens that mentioned "licorice root" which isn't the same as these plants in my yard. I have a hard time trusting that list anyway because it claimed things like spinach, celery, and mango, etc were toxic to them (which they aren't). Please help ease my worries! Thank you!

 

[BuffOrpington88]

Hi and

! I don't have any personal experience with this, and the only mention of it I could find was in this article that says that it contains something that is also found in clover called coumarin that could possibly be harmful if there are also fungi or other stuff growing on the plant. But no one really worries about their chickens eating clover, so I'm gonna say that licorice should be fine also since it probably won't be a large part of their diet. If you do happen to notice them having diarrhea or being lethargic or anything, you might want to try removing them from the licorice, but that is unlikely. So, long and the short of it is: it's fine! Congrats on your new chickens and thanks for joining us here on BYC! Good luck!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - you have some good advice already, so I'll just say hi.

Best wishes
Ct

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard chickens.