chickens eating pepper leaves in garden!?

[lilmagill]

hi all… I recently let my girls out into the part of the garden where my pepper plants are, thinking that they would not eat the leaves because (I have read) they don't like them and that they are toxic. But they are eating them. Should I be concerned? Thank you!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I can't imagine why they would be toxic. They won't eat enough to be a problem even if they did contain a toxin. Chickens will sample any greenery they find. My chickens have been eating the leaves and berries of toxic Pokeweed for years. No problems yet.

 

[Acre4Me]

We just cleaned out some pepper planta, and threw the whole plants into the run over several days. They gobbled up the leaves pronto! Still alive, munching on more pepper leaves today. Your chickens should be fine!

 

[lilmagill]

Thank you everyone! I don't know where I read that pepper leaves were toxic but it just goes to show ya you can't believe everything you read on the Internet

 

[JeannieNA]

I planted 6 Jalapeno Plants and they were about 6 inches tall. And (YES) MY FEATHER BABIES ATE THEM. I just thought it was snails or a worm eating the leaves, until one day I caught them doing it.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Birds are not against eating them might give them a bit of indigestion might crap funny for a few days or through them off eggs a day or so kill them nope

 

[Zach123]

All nightshades, including the ones we grow and eat (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, tomatillos, or peppers) contain some toxic alkaloids such as atropine, nicotine, and solanine. That's probably why some somewhere claimed they are poisonous. The amount of solanine depends on the plant. From the HIGHLY toxic deadly nightshade, to the fairly toxic (potato stems and green tubers have the highest concentration of solanine amongst our common garden plants) to the pretty slight levels of toxins found in peppers. Unfortunately people write things based n partial and misinformation and so the fact that peppers are in the same family as much more toxic plants, they assume that they must also be "dangerous."

Birds love peppers and for some reason chickens really love the foliage. I had bhuts stripped bare by free ranging birds one year. Capsaicin, which to us tastes hot, doesn't effect birds and I've watched a flock of house finches devour every last one of the ripe Thai chilis I had in some pots. Chilis evolved this way so that mammals, which would chew and crush the seeds, wouldn't eat them but birds, who don't have teeth, would and disperse the intact seeds in their droppings.

 

[Gehrman]

The best thing to do for you is to find a weed puller and to use it to remove leaves and other unnecessary items from your garden. It doesn't cost too much, and there are many websites where you can find a good weed puller at an excellent price. I bought one not so long ago on https://www.growgardener.com/best-weed-puller/. Please take a look; moreover, they offer many discounts these days. My brother also bought a weed puller from this website, and he got a 30% discount.

 

[Julie Hadley]

All nightshades, including the ones we grow and eat (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, tomatillos, or peppers) contain some toxic alkaloids such as atropine, nicotine, and solanine. That's probably why some somewhere claimed they are poisonous. The amount of solanine depends on the plant. From the HIGHLY toxic deadly nightshade, to the fairly toxic (potato stems and green tubers have the highest concentration of solanine amongst our common garden plants) to the pretty slight levels of toxins found in peppers. Unfortunately people write things based n partial and misinformation and so the fact that peppers are in the same family as much more toxic plants, they assume that they must also be "dangerous."

Birds love peppers and for some reason chickens really love the foliage. I had bhuts stripped bare by free ranging birds one year. Capsaicin, which to us tastes hot, doesn't effect birds and I've watched a flock of house finches devour every last one of the ripe Thai chilis I had in some pots. Chilis evolved this way so that mammals, which would chew and crush the seeds, wouldn't eat them but birds, who don't have teeth, would and disperse the intact seeds in their droppings.

Thanks for the information. My chicken in Scott in the tomatoes a couple years ago and while the ate the fruit, they didn’t really bother the leaves and they were fine.