euonymus and diarrhea

[Jake chickenman]

My Deleware chickens (about 1 year old) are doing fine but have occasional diarrhea. I have euonymus bushes which are behind deer netting but the chickens are crazy to get at it and seem to always find a way to eat some-- either pushing the netting inward or jumping up to nip at an un-netted branch that is out of reach without significant effort. Is this likely a cause of the diarrhea? I can improve the protection somewhat but suspect that the chickens will always find some access, such as leaves that fall off and lodge against the netting. Is this a serious threat to chicken health beyond the occasional diarrhea?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

From what I understand Euonymous is supposed to be safe for chickens

 

[Jake chickenman]

From what I understand Euonymous is supposed to be safe for chickens

Thanks for reply. That is good to hear, and prompted me to look more carefully at my sources. There has been some confusion in my mind because some lists of poisonous plants (for chickens) include Euonymus and others do not. Others say "euonymus europaeus", also called spindle tree, but I don't think that is what I have-- and in any event it seems to be the berries rather than the leaves that are poisonous.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I was actually researching this yesterday because I am planting some things around my chicken run. There are lots of lists on the internet but I took my list from a book called Free Range Chicken Gardens by Jessi Bloom and cross-checked it against the information on my local nursery's website which lists any risk to animals.

 

[Chullicken]

From what I've read most varieties are safe, though some in the genius have a toxicity that can upset digestive systems and hearts. ChickenDVM has a complete listing of toxic plants for poultry, its quite extensive. Also, high bacteria counts in food/water dishes can cause diarrhea as well, maybe worth looking into~ I use a 3% bleach solution on mine here and there, air drying for a few days and rotating containers. On a positive note though, watching chickens do that famous jump is priceless~

 

[Jake chickenman]

Thanks for all the information and suggestions. The chickenDVM site looks like a great source of information. It seems to confirm that it is only euonymus europaeus (spindle tree) that is poison. I will keep the deer netting in place anyway since, as you say, it is very entertaining to see them jump.