Poison oak and chicken eggs

[aliciaFarmer]

We've just noticed poison oak coming up all around our new chicken coop and enclosure (oh joy!) and are working quickly to eradicate it but I'm wondering if anyone has any insight...

I know poison oak doesn't negatively effect chickens but can it be passed to the eggs? If goats eat poison oak it can be passed to the milk, I know, but can't seem to find any information on chickens and eggs.

Thankfully it's just in one side and nowhere along their run, but they're about old enough to free range in the day and I'd like to be enlightened before letting them roam at will.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I doubt the chickens will eat any.
Are you sure it passes to goat milk?
The toxin is a skin irritant.
http://calag.ucanr.edu/Archive/?article=ca.v046n03p4

 

[aliciaFarmer]

I doubt the chickens will eat any.
Are you sure it passes to goat milk?
The toxin is a skin irritant.
http://calag.ucanr.edu/Archive/?article=ca.v046n03p4

I hope they avoid it.

I'm positive it passes through goat's milk. Poison oak (and ivy, I presume) can effect more than just the skin. It can effect you internally, mucous membranes, respitory system, etc. Accidentally tossing some into the burn pile can have dire consequences for people.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That is all true but the scientific article I quoted showed the results of two studies.
Neither the 7% diet nor the diet of 100% poison oak foliage resulted in any urushiol in either the milk or urine of the goats. It was only in the feces.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

Having said that, my "knowledge" is based upon a sweet old lady neighbor who kept goats and never went outside (her son milked the goat for her every morning). She almost died of a severe poison oak reaction after drinking goat's milk after it cleared a patch of poison oak. Her doctors said that's how she contracted it, so I just blindly believed her doctor. They could have been wrong and I could have been living in myth the past couple of decades.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Who knows. Perhaps the son got the poison on his hands from the udder/teats while he was milking and brought it into the house.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

Who knows. Perhaps the son got the poison on his hands from the udder/teats while he was milking and brought it into the house.

Yeah, who knows. She had it in her mouth, throat, nose, eyes and other more personal locations, though none externally on her skin. Whatever it was, sounds like a possible freak occurrence or potential misdiagnosis. That article said the milk was frozen and "sampled" every other day and our neighbor drank at least a quart a day so who knows... I'm neither a doctor not a scientist. I'm opting not to worry about it at this point.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I have the same issue but with poison ivy. My chickens are eating it. They are not laying yet but are close. Someone on here mentioned that they would be concerned about it passing to the eggs. I asked my sister in law, who asked her dad (vet who works with livestock and farm animals), and he said it won't pass to the eggs, but will be in their poop, so you have to be careful when cleaning the coop. My husband got poison ivy from picking up one of the chickens, because it had been in the poison ivy.
We have spot target sprayed the poison ivy over a two week period, then covered it with a tarp to keep the chickens out of it, and it still keeps coming back!

 

[aliciaFarmer]

I have the same issue but with poison ivy. My chickens are eating it. They are not laying yet but are close. Someone on here mentioned that they would be concerned about it passing to the eggs. I asked my sister in law, who asked her dad (vet who works with livestock and farm animals), and he said it won't pass to the eggs, but will be in their poop, so you have to be careful when cleaning the coop. My husband got poison ivy from picking up one of the chickens, because it had been in the poison ivy.
We have spot target sprayed the poison ivy over a two week period, then covered it with a tarp to keep the chickens out of it, and it still keeps coming back!

I'm so sorry to hear you have similar issues. I'm super glad about the eggs but not excited about the poop. I never set out to get poop on me but... it happens, of course. I have been reading that spraying with part vinegar, part natural soap and part salt in water can help to kill off the plants without harming the girls (both poison oak and ivy), and then carefully digging up the roots can help get rid of it. I'm going to try that, then cover with doubled cardboard and get a load of river rock to go on top, at least for the large pathway to where we will collect the eggs. Thankfully with us it's just on two sides and so far not in their enclosure or run but this is our first spring here so we're not yet fully sure. If we come up with a magical solution I'll surely let you know. We certainly don't want free ranging in poison oak or ivy.

Awesome news on the eggs.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I am going to try the same thing with the vinegar/salt/dishsoap method, since the roundup didn't seem to work. We have poison ivy growing all over in the little wooded area where the coop is, and they run through it all the time!