Free ranging

[Sue Stokes]

I let my chickens free range on the terraces of our orange grove. At this time of the year however it is carpeted with Bermuda Buttercup (oxalis pes caprae) - clover-like leaves with brown specks and yellow flowers on long stems. The chickens seem to love it and they are so greedy for it that their crops are bulging by the evening. So far everything is OK but someone(unconnected with chicken keeping) just told me that the weed is toxic to sheep. Can anyone tell me if it could be bad for my chickens long term.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would make sure your chickens fill up on chicken feed before you turn them out in the morning. Perhaps try to remove some of that and replace with more benign forbs like clover, ladino, buckwheat, turnips, radish, etc..

 

[Sue Stokes]

I would make sure your chickens fill up on chicken feed before you turn them out in the morning. Perhaps try to remove some of that and replace with more benign forbs like clover, ladino, buckwheat, turnips, radish, etc..

Thank you for your advice ChickenCanoe. It would be impossible to get rid of the weed. It is endemic in our area propagated by thousands of tiny bulbules. If you rotovate it just spreads them. By April it disappears below the soil and grass and other weeds take over so only a short term problem. The chicken feed is in a timed dispenser (6am:12pm:6pm) and they constantly go back and forth to the coop to eat it or to drink water or to lay but I will check that the bowl is empty in the morning before I let them out.