What? Chickens can't eat clover?

[NYREDS]

I can clarify it for you; the list is wrong. Clover is an excellent food for chickens & pretty much anything else. I my 50 years of poultry experience, raising thousands of birds, I'f never known of a chicken eating anything that was harmful to them. Somehow they know what's safe.

 

[Lute]

I read this to my boyfriend and he and I both were like "What?" so he googled that sucker.

He found that it's a specific type of clover that is toxic to your poultry, called Trifolium Hybridum. It's the clover with the pale white to pink flowers. Supposedly it causes light sensitivity and can cause gastrointestinal issues such as mild colic and diarrhea. Photo dermatitis and rough skin. It seems to be a problem specifically when the clover is wet.

White Clover and Crimson Clover, both used as a common cover crop, are safe.

 

[Imma Okie]

Did anyone else notice hemp is on the list??? What if it's for medicinal use and the chicken as a note from her doctor? ;-)

 

[kimmy59]

-In 1994, I was living in Dearborn Heights, MI, where there was a city ordnance banning feeding pigeons and doves. At the time, I had a bird feeder in my backyard which was kept clean and provided food during a very hard winter. My neighbor (neighborhood problem neighbor) called and complained that doves and pigeons were also eating out of my bird feeder which violated the ordnance. When the Police came they informed me that I was in violation of the new ordnance. When I asked how I could keep doves and pigeons away from my feeder they had no answer and simply suggested that I make an attempt to prevent it.

A few days later the neighbor complained again, and once again...the Police were called. When they came to my house they found a sign next to my feeder which read, "No Pigeons or Doves Allowed". The Officers had a good laugh and reported to our neighbor that we had taken steps to comply with the ordnance...we never heard anymore complaints.-

This is so funny I actually had to join this blog so I could lol in public! (Above)

I'm actually interested in this since I'm about to set my babies free in the back yard that has mucho 'dangerous' plants. My friends in the area haven't had any problems with their chickens and they have the same plants.

As a plant geek(Extension Master Gardener/Horticulturist) I would love (if possible) latin names for the plants in question. One mans clover(common name) is another mans ??????? Common names vary by region.

 

[HHandbasket]

If eating clover killed chickens, my whole flock would be dead. I once had a lush, green, clover-filled yard. Now, it looks more like "moonscape" than "landscape."

But it's all good because we have divided the yard in half & now they have their own section of yard. The "moonscape" is now like a bare slate that we will be completely re-landscaping over the next 2-3 months. All of the plants in our new landscape will be fruit/vegetable/herb garden plants and edible flowers. And we don't have to go pull weeds or anything first because the chooks spent 10 months taking care of that for us. It's being all tilled and the soil is all happy-happy and just itchin' to be planted.

We still have a chance of frost for another couple of months, though. We had a freak snow last year on May 15th.

 

[BBUTTER]

We have a pasture FULL of clover. The chickens love it. It's one of the first plants they eat. There's something else growing out there that looks related to clover, but smaller. The chickens don't really eat that. The only thing I've lost chickens to is coyotes.

 

[Texokie1]

I was worried about mycotoxins in stressed clover myself. Last spring/summer two of my horses came down with slobbers after a prolonged hot/dry spell...we treated the pastures to reduce the overall amount of legumes (and let more of the bermuda take hold), but there is still plenty of clover out there. I was planning on turning my chickens out on whichever pasture my horses were NOT in at the moment, but do you think I'll have issues with them eating too much clover? I'm a newbie with regards to chickens...I just know that if there is something out in the pasture you don't want your horse to eat, that's the first thing they grab...figure chickens will be the same...thoughts?

 

[damselfish]

Hi Kim, you may get more answers on a separate thread, but basically I would say that is fine. If your chickens are going to ever set foot outside, they can and will pick up wild bird cooties at some point. Possibly hippie cooties as well

Now, I'm assuming that you're going to have them brooded somewhere else since the coop isn't ready and that they won't get out to free range until they're bigger....but you probably know all that stuff already!

 

[the1much]

nothin wrong with hippie cooties,,,in some places they used as money
chickens will not eat something bad for them UNLESS they are starving to death. watch em all stare at a stink bug walkin by,,,or was that a hippie

 

[Frecs]

Mine have eaten three things on that list...clover, ground ivy, and st. johns wort. All are fine...

And, they aren't depressed.