Kentucky Coffee Tree- Does anyone have experience with this?

[RidgeCreekFarm]

Hello!
We are in the planning stage of our coop and run and I thought I'd look up what is non-toxic/toxic for chickens that we should plant or avoid near their run. I stumbled across a few lists of toxic plants that included "Kentucky Coffee Trees". This should not be a big issue in the run itself, but the area of our yard we would like to let them free range from time to time has multiple Kentucky Coffee Trees that dump loads of twigs and seed pods every Fall-Spring. Chopping them down would really rob the yard of a lot of shade- so we would like to avoid that. We can try to sweep them up, but with the spread and topography of the yard I really doubt we could get all of it up.

Has anyone had experience with free ranging chickens in yards with Kentucky Coffee Trees around? Do they avoid it naturally? Is it a certain amount that is toxic? Any suggestions?

 

[pvaldes]

For pete's sake, DONT give caffe to the chicken!!!, They are too nervous yet in its normal state. Nobody wants an hypervigilant sleepless rooster with anxiety issues all night long!!

Now seriously, Free ranging chicken know what to eat and what not. Most probably, as long they have other sources of food, wouldn't be even noticed. Mine don't touch tulips or anything poisonous (except for landing on it and the popular scratchalot sport league).

Fabaceae are experts making poisons, but I doubt Gymnocladus will suppose any problem for chicken unless forced to eat it.

 

[RidgeCreekFarm]

For pete's sake, DONT give caffe to the chicken!!!, They are too nervous yet in its normal state. Nobody wants a sleepless rooster!!

LOL! The neighbors would never speak to us again!

Now seriously, Free ranging chicken know what to eat and what not. Most probably, as long they have other sources of food, wouldn't be even noticed. Fabaceae are experts making poisons, but I doubt Gymnocladus will suppose any problem for chicken unless forced to eat it.

Thanks for the info! Breathing a big sigh of relief!

Blessings!