Drunken Slugs = Drunken Chickens?

[jjhere]

Slugs have been taking over my veggie garden so I tried the beer in a container trick last night. Worked wonderfully and I now have a couple of containers loaded with slug carcasses. Could I give these to the girls?

Also, they've been having a field day in the blackberry bushes and I caught them sampling some rhubarb leaves. I know rhubarb leaves are bad for us to eat, chickens too? And the blackberries?

Thanks!

 

[gryeyes]

Blackberry bushes are just fine and I encourage my flock to hang out there so when the chickens are done with the blackberry greenery, I'll be able to hack down the canes in the winter and maybe get RID of that patch at last!!!

 

[jjhere]

Ha-ha! I've given up trying to get rid of my blackberry bushes. I just hack them back regularly. Good luck though.

I should have checked more thoroughly before asking about the rhubarb. Just as I suspected:

"RHUBARB (Rheum rhaponticum); leaf blades; plant contains cathartic toxins including oxalic acid. "

Damn.

 

[BWKatz]

Getting rid of blackberry bushes?

I only wish I had some.

 

[silkiechicken]

Blackberreies in the PNW are a terrible invasive plant that taste oh so good for about a month a year. Any other month though, chip at, dig up whack down, till in, even go as far as painting round up on their leaves and they just grow back when the beating wears off... usually in a few weeks! Then once you think you have a patch clean after days, weeks, months of struggle, some dang bird lets one go over the clean fresh soil and BAM you have a new plant!

Those bushes eat whole cars and buildings in just a few years.


I don't think I'd give dead slugs to my chickens, as they have had time to start degrading in the liquid broth they are floating in. As for ruhbarb leaves.... had a turkey eat half of a 4-5 foot round plant once in one sitting, it survived with no ill effects. It did however eat half a thissle plant, thorns and all for fun. Silly things.

 

[Adora]

I want blackberry bushes too

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
I was really thrilled when the blackberry bushes recovered after heavy sheep "predation." When I moved into this house, the land-lady suggested I keep the gates closed, or her 3 Barbados sheep would be in my back yard eating everything. (She's right.) Anyway, I WANTED the blackberry bushes to grow! That was in 2007.

I know I cannot get rid of them permanently (without allowing the sheep full access, and how I have plenty of stuff I don't want them to devour). Every now and then, they get it, when I forget to LATCH a gate before I go to work. The funniest evidence is sheep droppings in the chicken run. Turns out sheep LOVE chicken feed.

Back to the blackberry bramble: It only took ONE season for me to forget to cut the canes back, and it took over a section of the yard I really want to use for poultry space.

Lazy gardeners should never hope for blackberry bushes.