Dead avocado leaves. Good or bad?

[chickenk8]

Was thinking of throwing a pile of dead avocado tree leaves and weeds into the run to start a sort of compost area as well as odor control, but read about how avocados are poisonous/not recommended. Anyone have any tips on whether dead/brown avocado LEAVES are an issue?

 

[Kev]

I would not do it....

My childhood house had an avocado and macadamia nut grove in the back. The poultry were also freeranging in the back. As far as I know, there were no issues... BUT, the ground was bare of any weeds and other plant life, while the low avocado branches had leaves that were mostly untouched. I think it was mostly the geese that occasionally nibbled on them.... still, most of them were untouched. So maybe they were allright because they realized to leave them alone.

When my dad brought home a whole bunch of coturnix quail- he wanted me to learn about breeding for profit(apparently the guy regaled him with tales of great profits....) I put them in the aviary, when I noticed the males were harassing the females pretty bad, I wanted to give them shelter to escape the males and to have secure spots for their nests.... cut down whole avocado branches and put them in the aviary. Next day, almost all of the quail were dead, with most of the still living showing neurological symptoms.. only the run that didnt get branches remained alive. It was extremely obvious that avocado leaves was very lethal.

I suppose that is an mixed answer. Free range were fine in the grove, but it was absolutely lethal to those quail for sure. I'd avoid it just to be on the safe side, especially on making it available to confined birds in empty runs with nothing else to nibble on.

 

[chickenk8]

Oh my gosh!!!!!! That is a mixed answer, but I feel so sorry for those quail! I agree I would rather be safe than sorry regarding these leaves. Our run is totally confined from things getting in (we used hardware cloth) so I lucked out! We have two big avocado trees nearby.

 

[Kev]

I wouldn't worry much about the trees being nearby or letting the birds out to range under those trees.

Confined birds get bored and seem far more likely to nibble and swallow things that they probably would not if on the range. There is a kind of weed here that the chickens largely ignore when they were free range, but now that my birds are always confined, they eat this very same weed with gusto if I give them a handful....