Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

Soil quality is a major issue in an heavily used area of ground. Most farmers farmers know to move cattle and sheep for examples on to new pasture if they are contained. When it comes to chickens a bare patch of ground year after year is apparently fine.

this is why I prefer small mobile coops to fixed ones (size irrelevant).

 

[Perris]

Mow and Sylph are doing okay.

That's good to hear.

Any news on the possible additions?

 

[BDutch]

Talking about if plants are safe for chickens or not. I was planning to sow some Anthriscus sylvestris. I know sheep love that stuff, so I wondered if it was safe for chickens. That way I have another flowery plant for insects that is still a food source for both chickens and sheep. But when I googled it it said it was toxic to chickens, so I checked what it said for sheep and it was the same! So now I am confused if is should plant it at all. It can be invasive and I worry if maybe they eat too much of it it could have adverse effects. I do know sheep also love to eat potatoes but if they have too much they will get diarrhea and eventually die. So advice on that plant is appreciated!

Invasive? This can become a nuisance bc chickens won’t eat it when the plant is toxic for them.

Our garden is filled with lots of toxix plants. The tasty and healthy plans for chickens didn’t survive having chickens free ranging for 10 years.
In the meantime Ivy grows too well.

I don’t know much about sheep but I know horses do eat poisonous plants if they grow in the field where they graze. Is there a group on BYC with sheep you can ask? Or maybe try the Dutch moestuinforum. Many people on that forum have livestock too.

 

[Perris]

The hedge relaying in late winter is having the desired effect re: improving the diversity of plants in it, especially around the base now more light and air gets in. Hogweed attracts many insects; here, bluebottles, greenbottle, and three hoverflies.

I've seen the chickens catch blue- and green-bottles, but not so many hoverflies. Butterflies seem to be surprisingly difficult to grab too, despite their relatively large wings.

 

[Skyeknight]

I wonder, there are so many plants where this specific plant is not toxic, but they have a toxic "twin", so the general line is, just treat it all as toxic?

It seems to have loads of toxic twins so to speak. But it's an incredibly common plant and the differences are visible.

According to wikipedia, whose descriptions are good enough for iNaturalist, the plant in question is edible in all parts above ground https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthriscus_sylvestris but some sources say it may be mildly toxic.

The confusion may arise from the fact that it is difficult to distinguish from hemlock, which is toxic.

Edited to add: all this refers to human consumption of course. I have found it extremely difficult to get any sensible nutritional information on wild plants, so would demand sources and evidence from anyone claiming anything about cow parsley as forage. (And for the sake of clarity, google does not equal either evidence or source.)

I did read that humans can eat certain plant parts, which might suggest other mammals could too. Very big might right there. But since chickens are birds their digestive system is completely different from mammals, so honestly even if sheep could eat it safely it doesn't mean anything for the chickens. Guess I will try to see if I can find any scientific papers on this.

Invasive? This can become a nuisance bc chickens won’t eat it when the plant is toxic for them.

This is why I will only plant species that both chickens and sheep can eat, that way even if it's invasive it doesn't really matter.

Is there a group on BYC with sheep you can ask? Or maybe try the Dutch moestuinforum. Many people on that forum have livestock too

Don't think a sheep group on BYC will be much help as it is mostly Americans on here and cows parsley is and European plan. It is a invasive exotic species in North America but never seen anyone mention it so far. I will try to see if the topic came up on the Dutch forum.

 

[fuzzi]

Invasive? This can become a nuisance bc chickens won’t eat it when the plant is toxic for them.

Our garden is filled with lots of toxix plants. The tasty and healthy plans for chickens didn’t survive having chickens free ranging for 10 years.
In the meantime Ivy grows too well.

I don’t know much about sheep but I know horses do eat poisonous plants if they grow in the field where they graze. Is there a group on BYC with sheep you can ask? Or maybe try the Dutch moestuinforum. Many people on that forum have livestock too.

Sister forum backyardherds.com has lots of sheep information.

 

[thistlewick]

Sister forum backyardherds.com has lots of sheep information.

I have sheep - they just eat the good stuff on our pasture. But they are not at all stressed in the pasture. 4 sheep are on 2.7 acres and they don't even LOOK like they are eating anything, so plenty of forage for them to nom.

 

[Perris]

Just after Xmoor has given up brooding (though I still sometimes hear her quietly clucking under her breath when I pass near), Paprika has decided it's her turn, and has taken up residence in the box next door to the one Xmoor was occupying all these weeks So another experiment in not breaking broodies begins...

 

[Shadrach]

A self-sustaining flock needs about 30 members I've found.

I found it can be done with fewer chickens provided the hens go broody. One problem is boom and bust. One year lots of offspring survive, the next not enough survive. Take my recent experience at the field. One day I've got a family with potential, the next it's a dead end and I'll have to import at some point.

 

[Shadrach]

That's good to hear.

Any news on the possible additions?

Not yet.