Can chicks eat cactus pads or fruit?

[CluelessChickMom]

Trying to find backyard plants for chicks. About 3 1/2 weeks old. I was wondering about prickly pear pads and fruit or other cactus. Thorns removed of course.

 

[azygous]

I love cacti. Lovely plants, especially in bloom. I have been around cacti my entire life, growing up in So Calif. and also working for years in the desert. Prickly pear grow wild and as prolific as weeds here on my land in Colorado. But I have learned this plant species is one that is best kept at a distance or I will be forever tweezing spines out of portions of my hide and the hides and flesh of my animals.

Yes, the pads and fruit of prickly pear are edible and delicious. But think about managing the plant as it's in such close proximity to you, your family, and your pets. Do you want to always be hunting for the tweezers when you discover those very fine but insidiously barbed spines appear in your chickens' skin or your own?

 

[CluelessChickMom]

I love cacti. Lovely plants, especially in bloom. I have been around cacti my entire life, growing up in So Calif. and also working for years in the desert. Prickly pear grow wild and as prolific as weeds here on my land in Colorado. But I have learned this plant species is one that is best kept at a distance or I will be forever tweezing spines out of portions of my hide and the hides and flesh of my animals.

Yes, the pads and fruit of prickly pear are edible and delicious. But think about managing the plant as it's in such close proximity to you, your family, and your pets. Do you want to always be hunting for the tweezers when you discover those very fine but insidiously barbed spines appear in your chickens' skin or your own?

I know they are edible just wasn't sure about the chicks. Prickly pears if they are kept up aren't too difficult to get a pad from and we have made jelly from the fruit. We have plenty of cacti in the front yard that seem just to throw needles from afar and yes I have spent days plucking them from my butt and thighs, lol. Dunno. I'll see how it goes. I definitely don't want needles in their butts or throats.