Poisonous plants and Vermiculite/Perlite

[BuffOrpington88]

Hi!
Are honeysuckles poisonous? My chickens peck at them sometimes.
Also, is it alright if they eat the white pebbles in potting soil? (Possibly vermiculite and perlite)
Thank you!

 

[Kikiriki]

Honeysuckle is toxic, but watch to see if they are actually eating the plant before yanking it...they may be getting bugs or just tasting it. I have a jasmine my son planted that I wanted to keep, bit the girls did seem to be trying to eat it...I chased them away, and I guess I will have to move it.

Here is a very good list of safe and toxic plants:

http://www.plannedparrothood.com/plants.html

Perlite is just volcanic rock and it should not harm them.

 

[ignatz]

Chickens know what they can and can't eat. They're no different from wild birds that know what they can and can't eat. It's one of those things that's just there...some species of animals are born with this information and others, like humans, are not. If it's an 'unknown', such as the 'white pebbles' you're talking about, chickens will taste test it sometimes. They pretty well know what they're doing far better than *we* know what we're doing with them.

 

[RiaN12207]

Chickens know what they can and can't eat. They're no different from wild birds that know what they can and can't eat. It's one of those things that's just there...some species of animals are born with this information and others, like humans, are not. If it's an 'unknown', such as the 'white pebbles' you're talking about, chickens will taste test it sometimes. They pretty well know what they're doing far better than *we* know what we're doing with them.

I would usually completely agree until I seen my chickens going crazy eating styrofoam in my driveway after having a refrigerator delivered lol. Oh that wasn't an easy cleanup with them trying to eat it before I got to it and the wind was blowing so it was going everywhere. Thankfully they were all ok

 

[Sally PB]

chickens going crazy eating styrofoam

I have read this several times here on BYC. Apparently, it has some in explainable attraction to chickens.

 

[RiaN12207]

I have read this several times here on BYC. Apparently, it has some in explainable attraction to chickens.

I have read this several times here on BYC. Apparently, it has some in explainable attraction to chickens.

It just blew my mind how ravenous they were over it. I didn't realize this was a "thing" with chickens. At first I thought they were curious because they seen white beads floating around and thought it was a bug but soon seen they were actually eating it.

I have read this several times here on BYC. Apparently, it has some in explainable attraction to chickens.