Scented geraniums safe?

[Scarlet_OHara]

Are scented geraniums safe for my chickens to eat?

 

[CluckerFamily]

My chickens leave my geraniums alone. They eat all the other plants in the same basket except the geraniums.

 

[ladybrasa]

I had a citronella scented one in the run all summer and they left it alone. Also had a small lemon scented one in a small pot that I didn’t get to transplant. After sitting in the pen for a week, they didn’t touch the plant, but yanked it out, scattered the dirt to the four corners, and may or may not have pecked the roots. Everyone is fine.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They won't eat them. I tried tossing cuttings into my run and the chickens just stomped on them.

 

[SoCal Chicken Mama]

I have a lot of lavender and rose scented geraniums in my yard. I thought of using them to refresh the coup and dust bath. Together they smell wonderful! I see most posts say they can eat lavender but shouldn't or won't eat the scented geraniums. I have a tree inside their run. I was thinking of hanging bundles of these herbs high in the tree, to refresh the air. (They won't fly up there because the limbs are too small for them to perch on.) Because no matter how clean I keep it, it still stinks. Is that OK? They are 10 weeks old. It is a European white birch (a great shade tree). Sometimes they jump up and try to pull leaves (of the tree) off for sampling. Is that just because they are young and silly? Will it hurt if they eat it? I protected the trunk with a hardware cloth guard (they love to peel the papery bark), but I see them trying to jump on top of that to reach the bark above it. I made them a roost in the run about three feet off the ground, but only the largest will fly up there to get on it. I know they can fly that high because they fly to the top of the coop (which is inside the run) and poop all over that, and it higher than the roost.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I was thinking of hanging bundles of these herbs high in the tree, to refresh the air. (They won't fly up there because the limbs are too small for them to perch on.) Because no matter how clean I keep it, it still stinks.

You can try, it's probably harmless, but if there's odor in the run you're better off figuring out what the issue is (drainage? type of litter? management of litter? volume of litter to birds?) rather than trying to mask it.

It is a European white birch (a great shade tree). Sometimes they jump up and try to pull leaves (of the tree) off for sampling. Is that just because they are young and silly? Will it hurt if they eat it?

If they've been eating that without harm so far then it's probably edible to them. Mine routinely pluck and eat willow leaves.