Nightshade

[FloweredHemlock]

Ive been wanting to free range my flock more but a nightshade native to where I live has been spreading like wildfire and I can't seem to get rid of it. I know it's not quite a raccoon or mite issue but these things are m6 pests! I can't get rid of them! I have ripped from the root, I have dug them up and got rid of them via throwing away the entire plot of dirt! And. It's. Still. Spreading.
They're coming from under my giant rose bush so that makes things way more difficult because she is huge and a real pain to move.
Any advice would be welcome

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Any advice would be welcome

Lots of things are in the nightshade family and will not cause harm.. tomato plants for example. Do you know what variety you're dealing with?

Atropa Belladona.. is deadly nightshade and may be identified by it's flower color and shape among other things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/Mind_and_Spirit/belladonna.shtml

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/deadly-nightshade/

I have lots of poisonous stuff growing including foxglove, buttercup, bracken fern, tansy ragwort, etc.. I try to make sure the birds aren't locked in with it.. but still allow them to free range.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I wouldn't worry about it. Chickens are not stupid and generally won't eat toxic plants if there's anything else available. If they did, they'd have been extinct long ago.

 

[Perris]

Deadly nightshade grows here too. My chickens don't touch it. As others have said, you can trust their instincts, you don't need to eradicate the plant before letting them out.

 

[FloweredHemlock]

It's silverleaf nightshade

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Silverleaf, lilies are toxic to chickens. My chickens' run is also my lily garden and has been for years. The chickens very much enjoy scratching under and around the base of the lilies for bugs, and lying under them for the cool shade. The lilies love the cultivation and fertilizer. They have a wonderful symbiosis. But never once have any of my chickens ever gotten sick from eating or nibbling on any of those lilies. They just don't. They're not going to nibble on your nightshade, either. I would bet money on it, but a) I'm not a gambler and b) I've got no money, lol. I spend it all on my chiggens!

 

[NatJ]

I can't seem to get rid of it... They're coming from under my giant rose bush so that makes things way more difficult because she is huge and a real pain to move.

Next time you pull out as much as you can, you might try mulching the area heavily afterward. I'm thinking many layers of paper or cardboard, then something to keep them from blowing away. The paper or cardboard will usually keep things from growing up again (add more layers as needed. Sometimes it takes very large amounts.) To keep it from blowing away, just about anything on top can work: wood chip mulch, rocks, tree branches, old lumber, even some dirt (although then you get seedlings sprouting in the dirt, but at least they don't have deep strong roots.) For paper, it can be junk mail, anything you need to clean out of a filing cabinet, newspaper, paper grocery bags, emptied paper chicken-food bags, and so forth. Cardboard boxes are an obvious source of cardboard. You don't have to do it all at once. You can spread what you have, weight it down with something, and add more layers as you get more material later.

Sheets of plastic or pieces of old carpet can be used the same way, but I like paper because after the weeds are dead I can just leave the paper to rot away over the next few months or years, fertilizing the soil at the same time. Plastic will not rot away, but over time it will get enough holes that weeds can come up again anyway, so I see it as a nuisance to remove but also a problem if not removed.

 

[ChicNmom]

My yard is full of water hemlock. Nothing will kill it and it spreads like crazy along the stream and any shady area we can't reach with the mower.

The chickens don't even pick at it even though groundhogs will eat the flowers. They know what plants they can and can't eat.

Bits of plastic from plant marker tags and bit of metal are a completely different story.

 

[mcdze]

I wouldn't worry about it if they ever eat a little something that makes them sick they'll learn LOL .. chickens have a pretty fast metabolism not too many things they'll eat will actually kill them as long as they can pass it .. I think that's the problem with things like lead in the yard it gets in their crop or stomach and just sits there and they can't get it out

 

[ChicNmom]

I wouldn't worry about it if they ever eat a little something that makes them sick they'll learn LOL .. chickens have a pretty fast metabolism not too many things they'll eat will actually kill them as long as they can pass it .. I think that's the problem with things like lead in the yard it gets in their crop or stomach and just sits there and they can't get it out

Yeah, One of mine had an impacted gizzard from eating an old flattened .22 caliber shell casing. I don't know why any chicken would think that would be good. I doubt it was even shiny when she ate it.

I'm constantly digging up metal and broken glass here.