Periwinkle and chickens

[Allleycatz]

I see that periwinkle is on the toxic list... sigh.
My eight week old girls have been outside in their run for about 2 weeks now (they lived in the dining room until it was warm enough outside!) We have been letting them out to free range in the backyard for an hour or so at a time -much of which is covered in periwinkle
I definitely saw one of the ladies sample a leaf and a flower, but seemed to mostly be interested in digging for goodies under the periwinkle.
Anybody have some experience with this toxic plant and free ranging their gals? Do you think they will stay away? It is supposed to be 'mildly' toxic (what does that mean??), should I rip it out or will they be fine?
I already will need to fence three spots where I grow veggies.
Thanks for the input!

 

[donrae]

In my experinece free ranging, all those plants on the toxic list are plants the birds just flat don't eat anyway. They might taste it, like you said, but that's it. I've had my flock where they had access to periwinkle and no one got poisened.

Personally, I think chickens have better sense on what they should eat than many people do.

 

[kurebrat]

My hens love them and I'm with you I think they know what they are eating! They are all year round and hard to kill so I let my girls have some everyday!