What? Chickens can't eat clover?

[SweetSilver]

sorry, should I delete the link?

Great link.

I was responding to the other guy; assuming you are talking to me not someone else which might be the case...... where's the dizzy-dude smiley when I need it?

 

[holm25]

Ours love clover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I filled there feeder with it yesterday everyone is fine!!!!

 

[SweetSilver]

OK. I hear chickens aren't supposed to eat rhubarb. Mine love rhubarb, though I get egg problems if they eat too much. I let them have rhubarb and they are fine!

Ours love clover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I filled there feeder with it yesterday everyone is fine!!!!

But how many people here know what kind of clover their chickens are getting?

Mine eat white clover that grows in the lawn, and red clover if they are lucky. The nearest sweet clover (yellow species) is a mile away.

I generally take these lists skeptically. Any lists that include "clover" but don't specify isn't a very good list. However there have been cases of livestock poisoning due to SWEET CLOVER, which is a TALL perennial clover, very pretty. There is a white species and a yellow.

Chances are good that most people here are feeding their chickens red clover, or white clover that grows in lawns, or crimson clover, hop clover also in lawns.

Sweet clover has high levels of coumarin, which when the plant is crushed gives off a vanilla smell and is the origin of the "sweet" in "sweet clover". It's that coumarin that can be a problem.

If you told me that, yes, your chickens eat that tall clover and they are fine, I'd believe you. But it sounds like everyone feeds them "clover" and I'm thinking, "which clover?"

From the link:
Quote:

Sweetclover contains coumarin which breaks down when the plant is spoiled or damaged

to dicoumarin (Schipper,1999). This compound is used as a blood thinner and anticoagulant in rat and mouse poisons and also for treating human ailments. (Smith and Gorz, 1965).

Coumarin is the cause of sweetclover bleeding disease which affects cattle after prolonged grazing on moldy or damaged sweetclover hay. For more information, refer to
the “Pests and Potential Problems” section of this guide.

 

[NQBQDY]

I looked this up just to see if all chickens love clover as much as mine do and was shocked to find this post. I do not free range my chickens because of the animals around our neighborhood but I feed mine clover on a daily basis and they love it. I myself along with the others here have see nothing go wrong in doing this. They have been eating it four 4 months now and it's their favorite time of day in my opinion. They see me pulling it up and go nuts till I drop it in the run. Now the clover I have is white Dutch clover but I don't know if that makes a difference. Thanks again for letting me be a part of this fountain of chicken knowledge.

 

[Foristers]

I give mine red clover as part of a tea that I put in the waterer with oregano and thyme tea also mixed in. Red clover has anti-cancer properties in humans. Perhaps the white clover is bad for them (?). I dunno.

 

[lazy gardener]

Old article. My lawn has lots of white clover, and some red clover, they seem to prefer the white, and chow down on it with great pleasure. They also enjoy eating creeping charlie. Plenty of that for them as well. I do not worry a bit about what plants birds eat when they are free ranging.

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

Birds, rabbits, horses etc love clover! That mag is full of Bologna.

 

[featherhead007]

Special Report:..... My 10 hens ate a full can of salmon
in 56 seconds, high sodium content "so I found out",
but no ill effects except bad beak breath!!

 

[rjohns39]

Does anyone know if it's ok to put my new pullets out in this pasture to free range after it has been harvested of soybeans and wild turkeys hang out in it all day long? This is a picture of the coop we're building and we get our new chicks in 3 days.

But I have read a lot about people being careful about introducing new hens to their existing flocks so as to not bring in a disease etc. But how about my bringing my new chickens to an existing field of turkey cooties and poopies?

The picture is of our coop we are building and you can see very well how the turkeys are enjoying all around it. Leaving their
marks no doubt. lol. Thank you. Kim

My chickens, ducks and turkeys live together. You may want to read the following article about raw soy. http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/194/whole-soybeans-in-diets-for-poultry/ I'm uncertain how much raw bean is left in the field but doubt it would be enough to cause a problem.