Greater Celandine (Chelidonium)

[DonyaQuick]

There is a plant growing in many places on my property that PlantNet identifies with confidence as greater celandine, Chelidonium majus. From pulling some up and seeing the distinctive reddish rootball, I believe that ID to be correct. My chickens like to eat the leaves and will strip an entire plant given the opportunity. It grows abundantly here and they've nibbled it off and on for a long time. I never saw it on lists of toxic plants on sites like here, so I assumed it was fine. However, I've now seen that one lone citation on wikipedia lists it as toxic to chickens. The citation is from a book I don't have, so I can't verify anything. I have encountered other less-than-correct citations from wikipedia in other fields before (at least one practically claiming the opposite of what was in the literature; there are good reasons why it's not citable in any formal setting), and given that my chickens do leave alone other known toxic plants, I am somewhat skeptical of the statement on that page. Does anyone have experience or other literature to point to regarding this plant and chickens?

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I also have this growing around, it's invasive here in Ontario. The milky sap is a skin irritant (on humans at least) but I know that the roots and sap are used medicinally for some people. I was also curious about chickens eating it, since I'm constantly ripping it out.... I will read more.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Found this interesting page: https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/C/Celandine(Greater)/Celandine(Greater).htm
If the info on the various chemicals at the bottom is right, then it sounds like there are some anti-parasitic things in the mix. Interesting. I also wonder if greater celandine expresses those chemicals in different ratios in different regions or strains. I keep seeing references on other pages to it having red sap or orange sap. While the root on my plants is red, the sap is bright yellow. Only a few pages I've looked at for the plant mention yellow as a color option for that. I also don't find the sap to be an irritant when I've gotten it on my skin, although maybe it's because I've just had a few drops on me here and there.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

The sap is always bright yellow/orangy and the roots are reddish. That’s the easy way to tell it apart from things that look similar like columbine.

 

[SituationalLefty]

It's noxious weed. Don't let it spread or it will take over. RX list says:

Greater celandine is POSSIBLY UNSAFE when taken by mouth. It can cause serious liver problems. When applied to the skin, greater celandine can cause allergic skin rash.

I'd keep chickens away from it.

 

[Winkiesfirstchicks]

There is a plant growing in many places on my property that PlantNet identifies with confidence as greater celandine, Chelidonium majus. From pulling some up and seeing the distinctive reddish rootball, I believe that ID to be correct. My chickens like to eat the leaves and will strip an entire plant given the opportunity. It grows abundantly here and they've nibbled it off and on for a long time. I never saw it on lists of toxic plants on sites like here, so I assumed it was fine. However, I've now seen that one lone citation on wikipedia lists it as toxic to chickens. The citation is from a book I don't have, so I can't verify anything. I have encountered other less-than-correct citations from wikipedia in other fields before (at least one practically claiming the opposite of what was in the literature; there are good reasons why it's not citable in any formal setting), and given that my chickens do leave alone other known toxic plants, I am somewhat skeptical of the statement on that page. Does anyone have experience or other literature to point to regarding this plant and chickens?

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My chickens are OBSESSED WITH THIS plant I figured I should double check cause like you said they will strip it. I became fearful when I read toxic but hopefully your chickens are ok?

 

[DonyaQuick]

My chickens are OBSESSED WITH THIS plant I figured I should double check cause like you said they will strip it. I became fearful when I read toxic but hopefully your chickens are ok?

While I did lose a some chickens since my original post in this thread, I believe those deaths had absolutely nothing to do with greater celandine (respectively those unfortunate deaths were due to cancer, eating a poisonous caterpillar, and some kind of chronic calcium uptake issue). The chickens I have currently are all doing just fine and continue to take a nibble on the plant when they find it. I never feed it to them deliberately and I've been trying to get rid of it where possible because as others have said it's quite the weed and I doubt I'll be able to actually clear it out of every place. It'll just kind of spring up some place out of nowhere and then I find it because the chickens find it.

One thing I've noticed is that they go through phases of being interested in nibbling greater celandine when they find it. Other times they pass it over.