Comprehensive list of poisonous plants and trees

[MeganLee2004]

Chooks4life,
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and kindness! My family did not have an interest in gardening until we started building our chicken coop. Our ladies have brought so much joy into our lives.
Thanks again!

 

[chooks4life]

You're very welcome.

Best wishes.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

This is a great list to have available thanks

 

[Quilting Hen]

we are getting ready to move our chickens out to their coop and run but it has a huge wisteria vine that crawls around 2 sides of where we were going to put them. Does this mean we have to rethink our spot? Help!

 

[chooks4life]

we are getting ready to move our chickens out to their coop and run but it has a huge wisteria vine that crawls around 2 sides of where we were going to put them. Does this mean we have to rethink our spot? Help!

It's toxic in large quantity, the seeds especially, and especially to humans, but overall a quite low risk to animals it seems. They can process many toxins we can't.

Many people on this site have their animals including chickens and ducks eating wisteria flowers, leaves, etc, regularly and have never had problems. That said I wouldn't let them regularly eat it in large amounts just in case.

Just trim the bits they can reach and you should be fine, probably.... That, and providing the circumstances to educate them on freeranging or at the very least wise dietary choices if you're not going to free range them; that's a very good idea to ensure your chooks have longevity. If they don't know what's safe to eat, sooner or later something will get them.

Chooks that live in cages don't have world-smarts and will eat things free range chooks never would, especially if those things grow within reach of their cages. They need greens in the diet to be truly healthy and if all they can access is poisonous greens their instincts will drive them to eat those anyway. For many chooks, that is, not necessarily all.

Slow, low-dose and limited exposure is a good way to start, so no chicken can eat a large dose in one go, and their biological feedback mechanisms should have the time necessary to tell them whether or not they should consume more. The main risk is when they have the opportunity to gorge on something new, or are so deprived that they abandon caution in their enthusiasm.

Some toxicity signs one could expect for some species:
Quote:

Family: Fabaceae

Toxicity: Toxic to Dogs, Toxic to Cats, Toxic to Horses
Toxic Principles: Lectin, wisterin glycoside
Clinical Signs: Vomiting (sometimes with blood), diarrhea, depression

Hardly a serious toxin threat there; out of all pets and livestock people commonly keep, it only names the three most vulnerable. Most other species cope far better than dogs, cats and horses with just about everything.

Best wishes.

 

[karida825]

I have a tree in my yard that I think is a Red Buckeye. Not sure yet, since I only moved into the house in October. I was planning to put my chicken run in the area with the tree, but want to make sure that the tree won't poison the chickens. I know it's poisonous to humans and cattle. But will the chickens go after the fruit/leaves as they fall?

 

[chooks4life]

I don't know what they'll do, but chances are they will test taste it. If it's not extremely toxic chances are they will survive those test tastings and learn not to do that again in future. Some possibly won't be so smart.

Any more info would need to be based on a sure ID of the plant you're dealing with.

Best wishes.

 

[annaBsChick]

PoultryDVM has a pretty comprehensive visual interactive list of toxic plants which I found to be quite useful.

 

[chooks4life]

Haven't looked through it but it does look handy.
Quote:

 

[Rebekkalynn]

Hi! I know this was an old post, but I had to comment

There are a couple things on the list I disagree with

. We run an organic chicken farm. We allow our chickens a lot of pasture, and I have found they eat daffodil shoots and they love my Japanese cherry blossoms. When they fall from the tree they flock to get them. The list states "cherry and daffodil ". Our chickens have been federally inspected and are healthy!

Also, for anyone who wonders.... They love daylilles... At least the grass part. They ate them though before they came into bloom. So, I don't know about the flowers.