Toxicity of Marijuana to Poultry

[ageranger361]

I'm looking for factual evidence regarding whether raw marijuana plant material consumption would be toxic to poultry, chickens, ducks, and geese in particular. While I assume there will be comical interjections to this thread, Please spare me the ethical arguments. I simply don't care to hear or debate over the ethics or legality issues. I'm seeking evidentiary information and personal experiences. I don't want my flocks to harm themselves, and I don't want my flocks to harm any investments IF I decide to go down the road of growing marijuana for personal medical use, or for legal commerce if the laws change.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I would imagine finding such information would be difficult due to lack of studies having been done. That being said, for all the tales of the damage that marijuana grows do to the environment when they are done in hidden areas of wildland, etc the one thing you never hear cited as a hazard is harm to wildlife from consuming the plants themselves (you do hear about the water being impacted by heavy runoff of chemicals for these grows, but they are different than what you would have for personal use).
That being said, given the potential damage to the plants I would think the best approach would be to configure your grow so that it is separate from the area in which the flock is able to access....this would have the added benefit of eliminating any potential danger to the birds.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

This site may be of help to you - this article is more about the more commonly accepted hemp products, but the site itself seems a good resource: http://www.leafscience.com/2013/10/24/chickens-hemp-diet-lay-healthy-omega-3-eggs/

 

[ageranger361]

 

[ageranger361]

True, it would probably be wise to put some type of protection up for both peeps and plants, but the property I live on is beautiful and I want to improve upon the looks, especially in the immediate area around the house and pond. If the law ever changes and we decide to go into commercial it would go without saying to have a fence, but in the areas around the house where we watch the geese and ducks play I wouldn't want an ugly fencing system. We try to do as much organic and natural as possible. We don't use chemical fertilizers on anything, only compost and organic amendments because we have a large pond that we don't want damaged and because we prefer natural methods. We also have the pond stocked with game fish and utilize it as a food source. I guess at the outset I was thinking mostly ornamentally planted shorter indica varieties around the pond, which would be in our viewing area. I guess I could surround them with some type of poultry netting, but I'm really interested in finding any personal experiences of current growers as well as legitimate studies or factual information whether the plant is truly "toxic" to poultry or not. The plant is listed as toxic to them on this website on the comprehensive list of toxic plants, but I don't know that there is any evidence to support the inclusion.

 

[ageranger361]

So what you're saying is, not only is marijuana not toxic, it makes the birds produce healthier and larger eggs. Lmao. Go figure that one. Should've known! ;-). Thanks for the link!

 

[egg0]

You never know you may find a market out for chicken eggs and meat raised on pot. Like this guy with pigs. http://www.vice.com/read/marijuana-fed-pigs-are-happy-pigs

 

[MeepBeep]

Like said above there is likely very little to no studies in regards to birds and THC, but they do have the receptors so it will effect them... My take based on studies of other animals and humans there is no practical way for a bird to consume an amount from the plant itself in non-concentrated forum that would be lethal to them, sure like most animals they will get high and might pass out get the munchies but I doubt it will kill them...

 

[ageranger361]

Well my state has a long way to catch up before it's legalized, if ever, for commerce. More likely it will be medicinal and it will be personal use only. But hey, I'm down for pot eggs and pot bacon.

 

[mimsy]

I'm in Oregon and it seems everyone is growing it here. The chickens will pick at it, and if there isn't much green around them they will completely destroy them. If you want to grow it for human use you will need to protect it. I don't grow it myself, but I can say my chickens pretty much eat everything and if they don't eat it, they kick it to death.