How long before chickens can safely forage on property that has been treated with herbicides in past

[Back2Roots]

I am wondering how long before it's safe to allow chickens onto property that has been treated with herbicides (weed-out, or round-up, for example). We have not treated with any chemicals in about 4-5 years, but our neighbours have, as recently as last year. Although we don't plan to let our chickens off our property, what if there is an "oops" incident, i.e., a chicken darting out when the run door is opened? The properties in our neighbourhood are not fenced off.

I wasn't sure where to post this question - sorry if it's in the wrong spot.

 

[spartacus_63]

Weed Out and Round Up will not hurt your birds, or you for that matter.

 

[Cebarmlds]

I don't know what weed out is but Round up is poison but after 4/5 yrs I wouldn't worry.

 

[Back2Roots]

I don't know what weed out is but Round up is poison but after 4/5 yrs I wouldn't worry.

Thanks, erlibird, for your reply: Weed Out is similar to Round Up - both are poisons, and there are warnings on both packages indicating that pets should be kept off the treated areas for a period of time. I know that residuals from the poisons hang about for quite a while, though, but haven't been able to find much information on how long that is. I figured that our property would be pretty safe by now (our gdog eats the grass quite regularly, and he hasn't shown any adverse effects or grown extra appendages

), but my concern is if chickens were to wander over to the neighbour's yard. It's actually been longer than 5 years since we stopped treating our lawn chemically, but I know that our neighbours have treated more recently. I suppose it depends on the amount of exposure, and if it only happens the odd time, and not right after the area has been treated, so if if they only escape the odd time ...

Thanks for the reassurance that it should be OK after 5 years.

 

[spartacus_63]

RoundUp becomes inert after contact with the soil. Unless your bird drinks RoundUp, there is no evidence (and it has been studied vigorously) of any danger to any warm blooded animal. Even if the animal drinks RoundUp, the worst case scenario would be throat and stomach irritation (RoundUp is a corrosive). RoundUp does not taste good, so the possibility of an animal ingesting much is slim and any animal that does drink it probably shouldn't be bred anyway.

There is some evidence that RoundUp absorbed by a plant and ingested by an animal, could cause cellular inhibition. Your eggs would not develop normally under a worst case scenario and it would have to be a significant ingestion. RoundUp is a salt compound and degrades quickly. There was one instance of trace residue in soil after 141 days in Iowa. This finding has never been repeated. The norm is trace findings up to three days.

Again, there is no danger to you or your animals from RoundUp. Especially since it has been a number of years since the last treatment.

RoundUp is a poison...if you are a plant.

 

[Back2Roots]

Thanks, spartacus, for your reply. What you say sounds right: Just because it's toxic to plants doesn't mean it will be toxic to chickens or dogs or humans - in trace amounts anyway. It says on the label not to let animals / pets on freshly treated areas for 24 hours, but doesn't say never let them near your lawn again.
I don't think I will worry about ocasional escapes to the pasture next door, because if and when any walkabouts happen, they won't be there long.

RoundUp becomes inert after contact with the soil. Unless your bird drinks RoundUp, there is no evidence (and it has been studied vigorously) of any danger to any warm blooded animal. Even if the animal drinks RoundUp, the worst case scenario would be throat and stomach irritation (RoundUp is a corrosive). RoundUp does not taste good, so the possibility of an animal ingesting much is slim and any animal that does drink it probably shouldn't be bred anyway.

There is some evidence that RoundUp absorbed by a plant and ingested by an animal, could cause cellular inhibition. Your eggs would not develop normally under a worst case scenario and it would have to be a significant ingestion. RoundUp is a salt compound and degrades quickly. There was one instance of trace residue in soil after 141 days in Iowa. This finding has never been repeated. The norm is trace findings up to three days.

Again, there is no danger to you or your animals from RoundUp. Especially since it has been a number of years since the last treatment.

RoundUp is a poison...if you are a plant.