How do people free range in areas where poison hemlock is invasive/prolific?!

[Ohsrsly]

I live in a rural area and have found that poison hemlock is endemic in my area. No matter how much I try to get rid of it on my own land, the roadsides are lined with it all flowering and going to seed. It feels utterly hopeless! It grows like ground cover throughout lawns and is huge and flowering on the roadsides. It seems to be EVERYWHERE!

People in this area do free range (I’ve seen chickens roaming around when I drive) and also raise other livestock. Are they somehow keeping it off their land? Do chickens just know better than to eat it?

I really want to give my chickens a couple of hours of supervised free ranging per day, but I’m terrified they’ll all eat hemlock and die. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Mrs. K]

Try one bird? I would assume that if you see other chickens out and about, chickens don't eat it. But I do not know.

 

[Folly's place]

I missed the post until now, sorry.
We too have poison hemlock everywhere! Recently I dressed in a hazmat suit, boots, rubber gloves, and pulled a large garbage bag full of flowering second year plants out of our yard! Gave up before I got up the driveway, still more to remove, next time it's less hot...
We also have nightshade, another work in progress, although at least I can pull those up by hand safely.
Our flock roams these areas, and has lots of other (healthy!) stuff to eat, and after years, hasn't gotten into trouble over these awful invaders.
Given few choices, most likely the birds would eat these plants too.
And I'm extremely reluctant to use herbicides out here, for the birds and our safety both. Recently I bought 2,4D, which I may use on the patches of first year hemlock, especially where the flock isn't allowed. If 30% acetic acid vinegar would actually kill it, I'd much prefer to use that. Need to find out if it will kill the patches of nightshade seedlings at least.
Mary