are tall hemlock trees safe for chickens to forage under? they can't reach the green branches but I have concerns about the dried needles and small cones the tree drops,if anyone has info on this or experience please help me.
I have blue spruce trees which aren't quite the same, but they too have dried needles and sometimes you can find the occasional pine cone too, I have left my chickens to run around under these trees and I have never noticed any of them getting hurt by the needles or pine cones, they usually just scratch the needles and thing out of the way and eat bugs, or dig a hole and lay down for awhile, so I would not consider hemlock trees a concern.
The poison from hemlock is the plant not the tree. It looks like queen anne's lace but loose flower head not the tight bouquet of anne's lace.
