Introducing chickens to an existing garden with toxic plants

[serenden]

If you can find some big flat rocks, you can put them around your plants. This is how the ones that are not edible survided here. They also like to go for the young ones. So maybe a super temporary fence while the plants get some strenght would make a difference.
If you put your herbs in your garden, I would recommend you to start thinking about plan B if you want to be able to harvest some, or any...

Thanks for the tip, I'll try that. We let them out in the yard for the first time this week and they do seem to stay away from some plants... They haven't discovered my herbs yet though...!!

 

[serenden]

I have not found this to be true at all. We have a whole scad of beautiful lilies in our garden, which are toxic to chickens, and they don't touch them at all. They do huddle under them for shade, and scratch under them for bugs. The lilies love all this attention and cultivating, not to mention the fertilizing, and are thriving. They have been sharing the space for about five years with no casualties on either side..

Our chickens also free range part of the day. We have a mad assortment of other bulb flowers, including daffodils and irises and many more lilies and the chickens do not bother them at all. It seems to me that chickens must naturally avoid toxic plants in nature, as must all birds and wild things. Otherwise they would soon become extinct.

Good to know, and it makes sense evolutionarily!

 

[Rodrad]

I have not found this to be true at all. We have a whole scad of beautiful lilies in our garden, which are toxic to chickens, and they don't touch them at all. They do huddle under them for shade, and scratch under them for bugs. The lilies love all this attention and cultivating, not to mention the fertilizing, and are thriving. They have been sharing the space for about five years with no casualties on either side..

Our chickens also free range part of the day. We have a mad assortment of other bulb flowers, including daffodils and irises and many more lilies and the chickens do not bother them at all. It seems to me that chickens must naturally avoid toxic plants in nature, as must all birds and wild things. Otherwise they would soon become extinct.

Near our run we have a very large patch of various daffodils, thousands of them. We are concern that our half day free range chickens may try to eat them. I feel now little better that your experience showed that it was not true. I wonder if there is an early sign of chickens getting sick because of eating poisonous plants so we may have to keep the all spring in the run (till daffodils die)!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Near our run we have a very large patch of various daffodils, thousands of them. We are concern that our half day free range chickens may try to eat them. I feel now little better that your experience showed that it was not true. I wonder if there is an early sign of chickens getting sick because of eating poisonous plants so we may have to keep the all spring in the run (till daffodils die)!

I just don't think you need to worry about it. If chickens typically ate toxic plants, they'd be extinct already. They'll eat what's good for them and if you see them scratching around among the daffodils, they're just after the bugs crawling around the roots. No worries.

 

[Rodrad]

I just don't think you need to worry about it. If chickens typically ate toxic plants, they'd be extinct already. They'll eat what's good for them and if you see them scratching around among the daffodils, they're just after the bugs crawling around the roots. No worries.

Thank you very much for your soothing reply!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you very much for your soothing reply!

You're welcome! When the daffs start to bloom, keep a camera handy, you might get some very attractive shots!

 

[Rodrad]

You're welcome! When the daffs start to bloom, keep a camera handy, you might get some very attractive shots!

Good idea!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Dat's a LOT o'daffodils!

 

[Tashua]

If you limit how much time they have out, you may be able to strike a balance. Mine only come out for a short period each day (they're usually in a sizeable run) and so they don't have time to really destroy the garden. Helps that they've taken a liking to my side lawn which is quite overgrown, so they're welcome to destroy whatever they want over there.

I tried the time limit and that helps some ,but I finally got tired of them nibbling all my garden veggies and this winter came up with the simplest idea after reading about fences and a zillion other things - we had some freeze. Warnings in N Florida and I covered all my plants at night ….. such a simple solution !!!

 

[Tashua]

I tried the time limit and that helps some ,but I finally got tired of them nibbling all my garden veggies and this winter came up with the simplest idea after reading about fences and a zillion other things - we had some freeze. Warnings in N Florida and I covered all my plants at night ….. such a simple solution !!!