Free-Ranging in English Ivy

[FarmerSandra]

Hi,
My family lives in the redwoods and all that grows here is English Ivy. It's a wonderful plant and it keeps the mountain up off our property, but I wonder if it is ok for my chickens to free range in it.

 

[ranchhand]

Hi,

from South Carolina!

I am not sure how bad or good the English ivy might be, but we have huge swaths of it and my chickens avoid it. They seem to prefer the more open areas under the trees.

 

[gsim]

I think Ivy is something they should not eat and likely they will not eat it. It is a broadleaf evergreen in many cases and no chook will eat a broadleaf evergreen that I know of. I cannot interest mine in native privet nor honeysuckle, but they will eat honeysuckle berries.

 

[elmo]

My chicken enabling friend is also a landscape architect. He confirmed for me that English ivy is toxic to chickens, but it also tastes bad to them so there's very little risk that they'll eat enough to harm them. If I had English ivy growing in a pen where my chickens were confined, I'd rip it up because they might get so bored with nothing else to peck at that they'd eat a lot of it.

 

[Carpe DiHen]

Vinca and English Ivy are both on the toxic list.

I've had the same worry about Vinca in my area (or periwinkle). I called an Avian vet and she told me that as long as the plant was not in my run, the bird would avoid it.

I don't have my chickens yet, but i am not longer worried about the plants in their free range area. I got good suport about this on the forum.

Not advice from experience, but from lots of research.

 

[flgardengirl]

I have hundreds of poisonous (to chickens) plants. Our chickens have never ate or gotten sick from them. They will sure scratch up your flower bed though to get the bugs. I wouldn't think ivy would be a problem.