NY chicken lover!!!!

[Metella]

They look like elderberry - but that is a bush and the berry grouping is different - as well as the leaves.

What you have there is called a chokecherry in Western PA - and they are fine for the birds to eat - very big pit inside - so that is why people don't do much with them - also very tart. But not poisonous at all. I actually planted some last spring that I got my parents to mail me - but they didn't take - I am trying again this fall. They don't flower as spectacular as a normal cherry - and again - more pit than flesh. But great for the animals and as diversity on the land - the more diverse - the more likelyhood that some edible will be successful in each year.


Oh NOTE - they are heavy in natural cyanide - so they shouldn't be scarffed up like a main meal - if that is all a chicken has to eat - they could die from the cyanide building up .... the leaves also have cyanide in them. So do apples, rice .... ect ..... so that is why I said not poisonous - but all things in balance! This COULD be toxic if used as an only source of food.

 

[boskelli1571]

picked some plantain for natural worming ..
the whole plant seeds , leaves & roots .
put it in the food processer , strip off some of the seeds
They ate most all of it right up ...See if anything comes out

Gramma - would love to know your recipe for dewormer, do you add anything else?

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

They look like elderberry - but that is a bush and the berry grouping is different - as well as the leaves.

What you have there is called a chokecherry in Western PA - and they are fine for the birds to eat - very big pit inside - so that is why people don't do much with them - also very tart. But not poisonous at all. I actually planted some last spring that I got my parents to mail me - but they didn't take - I am trying again this fall. They don't flower as spectacular as a normal cherry - and again - more pit than flesh. But great for the animals and as diversity on the land - the more diverse - the more likelyhood that some edible will be successful in each year.


Oh NOTE - they are heavy in natural cyanide - so they shouldn't be scarffed up like a main meal - if that is all a chicken has to eat - they could die from the cyanide building up .... the leaves also have cyanide in them. So do apples, rice .... ect ..... so that is why I said not poisonous - but all things in balance! This COULD be toxic if used as an only source of food.

I looked up some pictures and I believe that you are right! I knew that someone would know what it is. I'll have to tell my friend that makes wine. I bet he would like the challenge to make some.

The chickens don't use it as a main food source by any means, but they are enjoying what falls down. It is in the corner of their run and the main source of shade for the chickens and our dogs. I will be keeping an eye on them for sure.

 

[Gramma Chick]

What you have there is called a chokecherry in Western PA -
Oh NOTE - they are heavy in natural cyanide - so they shouldn't be scarffed up like a main meal - if that is all a chicken has to eat - they could die from the cyanide building up .... the leaves also have cyanide in them. So do apples, rice .... ect ..... so that is why I said not poisonous - but all things in balance! This COULD be toxic if used as an only source of food.

They dont seem to bother birds ...but you are right ...everything in moderation
they can poison other animals

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=501

 

[rancher hicks]

It's not mulberry. My guess is some kind of cherry. The bark doesn't look like black cherry, but the leaves and fruit are similar.

Can we get better pictures of the fruit?

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I'd say Mulberry.  These berries  can be used in Jelly.  

MULBERRY  There are different varieties.  

 



You have to understand that using these berries takes work and so folks don't like to make there own jelly, but wine of course is easier and less work so they make wine. 

Not to mention harvesting the berries. Honestly though you can make quite a bit of jelly from not to many berries so one tree is usually more than enough.

they are not mulberry. The berries are not even close to the same

 

[stevethack]

Careful with picking little purple-ish black berries...not all are created equal... Pokeberries or Pokeweed.. (also the young leaves used as poke sallit greens by some in the spring), looks real similar to Elderberries. Elderberries have multiple branching fruit stems....Pokeberries have a single central stem without branching...and are kinda poisonous if eaten in larger quantities..
Elderberries are not.
The original poster asking about the trees has some small Wild Cherry trees...Sand Cherries..Choke Cherries... plumb full of acidic tastes...and more then a bit of Cyanide. Leaves too. never give the leaves to chickens or any livestock. Especially after the leaves have wilted, that's when the cyanide is released from the cells the most. Chickens will eat the berries...one or two times in larger quantities...then not so much when they get a bellyache. "Usually" chickens know what to eat...or how much. Choke Cherries are so bitter they shouldn't eat enough to make a big bellyache..

 

[rancher hicks]

they are not mulberry. The berries are not even close to the same

That's why I asked for better pics of the fruit. I can't see them very well in the pics. Too there are so many varieties of the same fruit it can be hard to identify them.

I have two types of black currants but each has a different shaped leaf. My gooseberries are the same way. Too I have three gooseberry bushes and one has completely different leaf color.

It's all very confusing.

 

[myfivegirls]

That tree looks like what we used to have where you used to live, some type of wild cherry tree. A few were in the chicken yard & they ate them too.
Agree with others - in moderation it's ok for them.

Took a break from processing, but have to get back out there before it's dark. More of this year's roosters were meaty than other years, as I experimented with feeding fermented chick starter until they're ready to process, plus later added some free-choice layer mash since they were quite hungry. Decided to also process the younger ones that wouldn't get that much bigger before Oct, so making lots of broth/stock.

Plus, the extra pullets & a few cockerels are going to new homes over the next few weeks, so I don't have so many mouths to feed during the winter. Last weekend did some re-arranging and combining of groups, but some of the SFH pullets I'm keeping are trying to escape & go back to their previous "home".

 

[Beer can]

I'd say choke cherry. I know wild turkeys eat the crap out of them. Probably poop out the pits. I've ate them, they're not bitter, more of a dry your mouth out flavor. My mom always made jelly out of them, very yummy but still slightly dry out mouth flavor.
Native Americans lived on them. Dried them out in the sun, pounded them into flour, mixed with fat and meat into small cakes and smoke dried, pemmican. The drying or heating renders the toxin harmless.
http://sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/ChokeCherry_050905.htm