Chickens eating elm leaves

[Grace11]

Is there Anything bad about Letting young chickens eat elm leaves that fall into their enclosure? Im not fast enough to grab them away. Then i go and get them a big fistful of purslane so they have something green.

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't know if Elm is toxic. IMO, best practice is to see to it that they have greens available. We dump grass clippings into the run. If they have greens on a regular basis, they are not as apt to gorge on them when they do get them.

 

[Grace11]

I don't know if Elm is toxic. IMO, best practice is to see to it that they have greens available. We dump grass clippings into the run. If they have greens on a regular basis, they are not as apt to gorge on them when they do get them.

I kinda dont want them eating those leaves, but the goats next door will eat the leaves with stems and if the branch is too big to eat, they strip the bark off. the trees overhang the chicken pen so i get the occasional leaf in there. i do give them as much green stuff as i can, but boy they dive for those leaves and i even had the rooster swallow a whole one while i was trying to get it away from him. but, chickens are not goats, and i just hope the occasional leaf isnt toxic for a chicken. they get some pile of greens every day.....

 

[lazy gardener]

I wouldn't worry about it. You'd ought to see the stuff they will eat when you are not looking!!! My birds chow down rhubarb leaves every fall. And, we all know how poisonous they are supposed to be!

 

[Grace11]

Good to know! Thanks!

 

[CountryChic63]

Our chickens are gobbling down leaves from our bushes. The bushes aren't the landscaping type, more like just wild. They eat a lot of them. Should I stop that? The chickens are 2-1/2 months old.
We keep the 2 feeders full of Grower Crumbles all day/night, plus cracked corn everyday, plus table scraps like raw spinach, carrot peelings, shredded lettuce, sliced up grapes, biscuits & occasionally some bird seed with sunflowers, or greek yogurt.
Also, when does the rooster start looking out for his flock of hens? We have 1 dozen hens, but he pushes them away from food so he gets it all, and tramples down anyone in his way. I pick him up some times to give the hens a chance to eat, otherwise he scarfs it down as fast as possible. I thought he was suppose to check the food out & then watch over the hens as they ate, then he ate last??