Mountain Laurel?

[jrudolph305]

I've seen places that say Mt. Laurel is poisonous to chickens if they eat a lot. We have 16 chickens--currently 6 weeks old--and we will have food and water in the coop and in the run for them at all times. The run is 30' X 16" covered with leaves now and should have plenty of bugs etc. We will probably throw in some scratch, veggie scraps when they get a little older. When we built the run we left a small bunch of Mt Laurel--thought it would be good shade and a place to hang. My question is if they have access to plenty of food and water will they still eat the Mt Laurel? Do they know what is good or bad to eat? I can still cut them down before they are let loose in the run but would like to keep the Mt Laurel if possible. Seems to us if they were free ranging they would have access to many poisonous plants and should know what to do.

 

[Den in Penn]

Your last sentence is the consensus, that free rangers don't bother with poison plants. With them in a run a prone to boredom they might well eat a poisonous plant.

 

[Keep trying]

I've seen places that say Mt. Laurel is poisonous to chickens if they eat a lot. We have 16 chickens--currently 6 weeks old--and we will have food and water in the coop and in the run for them at all times. The run is 30' X 16" covered with leaves now and should have plenty of bugs etc. We will probably throw in some scratch, veggie scraps when they get a little older. When we built the run we left a small bunch of Mt Laurel--thought it would be good shade and a place to hang. My question is if they have access to plenty of food and water will they still eat the Mt Laurel? Do they know what is good or bad to eat? I can still cut them down before they are let loose in the run but would like to keep the Mt Laurel if possible. Seems to us if they were free ranging they would have access to many poisonous plants and should know what to do.

I know this was posted quite a while back. How did it work out. We are building a coop and have a mountain laurel near. Have been picking up the seeds but wondered about the husk and decaying leaves. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks