PLANTS POISONOUS TO CHICKENS

[Altairsky]

My chickens free range and they eat whatever. I've seen them devour potato plants and the poisonous Datura stramonium (devil's trumpet). They're all still here.

 

[Bawkbok]

We have Jasmine, Lantana, Milkweed and a few others on the list in our yard. The plants were here long before the chickens. They ignore the plants entirely even though they forage among and around them. It was funny to watch them jump up to snatch the new flowers off the blueberry bush the other day. It's amazing they instinctually know what they can and can't have.

As far as the compost pile goes, we used to let the girls go at it in there for the bugs. They loved it. However, there are too many opportunities for them to eat something rancid or moldy so we no longer take the chance. They are right there waiting at the compost fence for any bugs that might fall out as we churn it over. Any bugs I see, I grab and hand feed it to them.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

As far as the compost pile goes, we used to let the girls go at it in there for the bugs. They loved it. However, there are too many opportunities for them to eat something rancid or moldy so we no longer take the chance. They are right there waiting at the compost fence for any bugs that might fall out as we churn it over. Any bugs I see, I grab and hand feed it to them.

I've been running chickens on compost for years. The same thing that tells them not to eat poisonous plants seems to keep them away from anything harmful in the compost pile. Plus they love turning and aerating the pile while finding little treats that sometimes we can't even see.