No Injury YET - Oleander in yard

[mediazeal]

My neighbor has Oleander planted along the fence line. It is not close to the coop but as my 13 week old chicks get more adventurous, they are going out further into the yard. I am worried about the Oleander that may overhang/drop into my yard across the 6 foot wooden fence.

I consider Oleander highly poisonous.
My dogs don't eat any petals that might drop from it, but I worry about the chickens.
Is Oleander poisonous to chickens? will they sample it if given the chance?
My neighbors wont' cut them down but I could fence off that area in my yard so the chickies can't get to it.
Thanks for your thoughts

 

[flakey chick]

It is highly poisonous to most animals. There is a type of caterpillar that eats it so it then becomes poisonous to other animals. Every part of the plant is poisonous. There is no telling if your chickens would eat it (or the caterpillars), but I would play it safe and fence them away from it.

As a tot I had to have my stomach pumped because of it. Mom found me crawling around with part of a leaf in my mouth. She could not find the other half so off to the hospital I went. Yeah, I kind of have something against oleander.

 

[mediazeal]

Quote:
Wow, thank goodness your mom was watching out for you and knew it was dangerous!

thanks for your thoughts

 

[aceriderbetty]

My dad always called it "Kill a horse, kill a mule". It is very poisonous.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

When I was about 10, I got a little speck of it in my eye.

OH

MY

GOSH...

I remember begging my dad to kill me.

Put up a fence, please. Even if they don't eat it, the stuff gets to you somehow. And when they bloom, think how tempting that would be...

 

[redhen]

Thread Hijack....I just read a book about Oleander. A lady boiled some down and fed it to her cheatin' boyfriend...he croaked and she went to jail.

 

[sbarab]

You might want to try to educate the neighbors about the dangers of oleander to pets & people. I doubt that the nursery where they bought them did.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Quote:
They wouldn't care. I've told many a people that oleander is poisonous, while their kids are playing hide and seek in it, mind you (at the scout building here), and they just shrug and say "It's never bothered me before." Stupid people.

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

Quote:
They wouldn't care. I've told many a people that oleander is poisonous, while their kids are playing hide and seek in it, mind you (at the scout building here), and they just shrug and say "It's never bothered me before." Stupid people.

Do they have any pets?

 

[flakey chick]

Here is a colorful oleander caterpillar

BTW it turns out I hadn't swallowed the oleander, but even half a leaf could have killed me. My aunt tells me she used to drink nectar out of the flowers when she was little.

If you are able to convince your neighbor to get rid of them, be sure they don't burn them. The smoke produced is dangerous.