Feeding weeds to chickens??

[Superchick]

Hello,

Im very new to chickens. I recently bought 20 Rhode Island Reds. Wow what nice friendly chickens! Anways, my question is about weeds. I have been doing a lot of weeding and have been thowing them into my chickens outside area. They seem to love them as they gobble them up all of the time. The only thing is some of them have prickles on them. Is this bad for them? The weeds do not have pesticide or anything like that. In the last month 2 of my chickens have died? Thanks for the advice!

 

[Finn]

Someone on the forum here will eventually give you more sound advice...but if you're not sure or wary of the weeds,I'd toss em into the compost pile just to be sure,thee only greens I feed mine are fresh grass you pull from the side of the coop/run or ?,and dandelion greens which my yard has buckets of.

 

[Anny]

As long as you know what the weed is, and you know it's not a poison plant, feed it. If you are unsure, compost it.

 

[dlhunicorn]

what my birds do not choose to eat on their own while foraging , I do not give them unless I am VERY sure about it. There are several weed seeds that are toxic... see here:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS052

As far as composting, I dont take any chances on them reappearing so I dont throw them on my compost heap.