Pokeweed

[animallover505]

there is a pokeweed growing in my garden, and was wondering if I could feed the plant to my chickens

 

[speckledhen]

Um, no, I wouldn't do it on purpose. Pokeweed is poisonous, especially the berries. They may nibble at it themselves a bit, of course, but as someone who has a ton of that stuff all over the place here, I chop it down or pull it up and get rid of it by tossing it over the fence where they can't get to it.

 

[debid]

They'd much rather you pick them some dandelion greens or clover.

 

[chfite]

My chickens eat poke salad down to the stems, when they are foraging.

Chhris

 

[janinepeters]

Um, no, I wouldn't do it on purpose. Pokeweed is poisonous, especially the berries. They may nibble at it themselves a bit, of course, but as someone who has a ton of that stuff all over the place here, I chop it down or pull it up and get rid of it by tossing it over the fence where they can't get to it.

Pokeweed berries are poisonous for people, but are you sure they are poisonous for chickens? You might be right, but I would be surprised, since wild birds love them. In fact, it is preferred by bluebirds, and recommended as a plant that's good for attracting these and other wild birds.

I personally wouldn't give the stems and leaves to confined chickens, if that is what you are asking, animalover505, but nor would I weed it out of a yard where chickens roam. When they have a lot of choices, they eat what they like and leave what they don't like.

 

[Eggcessive]

My mother (86 yrs old) loves poke leaves cooked as greens. She grew up on them. She says you shouldn't eat too many because they can give you the trots. Why would they be poisonous to chickens or is it just the berries? Heck we used to make ink out of them as kids.

 

[Mskayladog]

Young poke shoots are fine to fry up and very good eating. As they get larger we don't pick them to eat, my grand mother told me only the shoots can be eaten as they get larger they are posion true I don't know lol so I only pick the smaller plants and leave the big one alone

 

[animallover505]

My chickens are confined except for a few hours daily, but get lots of treats. I was thinking about putting it in with them/

 

[janinepeters]

Yes, it is true that young poke leaves are edible for people. I haven't eaten them but have friends that do. I too have read that the mature leaves are toxic to people, at least in large quantities. The berries are toxic to people, as far as I know, but definitely not to wild birds. Therefore, I think it is unlikely that the berries are toxic to chickens, but I don't know about the leaves and stems.

As for putting any part of the plant in a coop of mostly confined chickens, I would first see what they do with it when not confined. The problem with giving treats to confined birds is that they might eat a lot of it simply because they have few other options. Thus, the bird might consume a large quantity of a food that is safe for them only in small quantities.

When my birds are confined, I have no problem giving them berry laden branches of elderberry or autumn olive, because I know these are preferred foods when they are free ranging (I've seen them run over to the shrubs and gobble up loads of the berries as soon as I let them out). However, I don't have much pokeweed where my birds range, have not yet seen them eat it, so I am not sure how much they like the berries or leaves.

 

[Mskayladog]

[I have loads of poke and the chcikens don't touch the plant or the berries. It's one of the FEW things they don't eat in the yard lol