Toxic Plants

[Zahboo]

I have Morning Glory planted in front of the pigeon loft. They are about 2" tall now, just leaves and today I bought Moon Plant seeds. I wanted to look up the moonplant and found a list with both of them on them so I looked on a few more. Some lists have both, some have one, some have zero and mom says it'll be fine. IDK because I don't want to lose birds over plants but I really want them. I figured if they are I can transplant the morning glories.

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

I free ranged all summer last year. I didn't loose a bird. I've began free ranging some this spring, and there is no way to go around and pull or remove all the plants listed as toxic on the 3+ acres they have access to. It has been my experience that the chickens will instinctivly aviod the plants that are harmful to them. If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure they'll be fine.

 

[tammyd57]

If they have plenty of other greens to eat, they will ignore the stuff that isn't good for them. Plus, most 'toxic' plants are foul tasting to chickens.

 

[ArizonaNessa]

Here is a link to a list of toxic plants that I find useful. http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html

 

[Zahboo]

I think what I'm going to do is plant them in front of the pigeon loft (morning glories) and the moonplants in front of the chainlink at the front of the chicken yard (about 20 feet from coop) and use deer netting if they are too nosy.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think it's mostly the seeds and they cause hallucinations, primarily, along with some other symptoms, like agitation. For an adult human, 200-300 seeds is a known amount to cause hallucinations. If you pick the spent flowers, instead of letting them go to seed, I think that would take care of the problem. That's a lot of dead heading, though.

I've been thinking about where I could grow morning glories, lately. So far, I've always gone with sweet peas and nasturtiums. They're edible.

 

[newchickmom09]

Quote:
Exactly what I was going to say. It is the seeds that make it toxic since they are a hallucinogenic. My chickens and ducks leave them alone and I have never had a bird die from eating anything in my yard. I have a few plants that I know are poisonious like Ivy, primrose, and yellow jasmine. The chickens have an instinct that tells them what they can and can't eat. I wouldn't be to worried about it really.