Wild cherry trees

[DavidS]

Hello! I have a question about wild cherry trees. I have heard that you have to be careful with cattle around wild cherry trees. Does the same go for chickens? I have a lot of these trees on my property (they grow like weeds), but there is only one near my coop. Should I get rid of the tree, or are the chickens safe? I have 15 chickens for eggs.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

David in Ohio

 

[WilsonAcres]

The only cherry I can find that is poisonous is the Jerusalem Cherry heres a link with tons of poisonous plants and trees though its pretty helpful I wish it would elaborate a little more on the cherries

http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxic1.html

 

[WilsonAcres]

Found another link apparently the cherries themselves are poisonous! Its the pit or seed of the plant thats so bad ..theres actually a lot of plants on this link that i've never known were poisonous to chickens! Glad you started this topic!

http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html

 

[Roosterfry]

wild cherry seeds and stems do contain an amount of arsinec. how much i dont know. and how much it would take to hurt a chicken i dont know. and we have those around here too in North MS but i dont let any grow where my chickens could eat any of it. but dont worry too much as long as your birds have more options to eat:grass, feed, bugs ,etc to i seriously wouldn't think they would eat enough of it to hurt themselves. but i would still cut them down or make sure they have plenty other options of things to eat.... just me

 

[Lyssa]

I have several Cherry trees and my girls are very good at tearing the cherry flesh from the pit. They love the cherries and I haven't noticed any ill effect. I prefer to get to the cherries before the chickens, as I love them also... cherries

 

[DavidS]

Thanks for all the great responses on the wild cherry. I found a website" wild cherry trees in North America/eHow". This shows an entirely different tree from those found in Europe and Asia.
The poison from the trees I have evidently comes from the leaves and twigs. When the tree is stressed, the leaves release a poison. I'm going to get rid of the tree. The site also says that the poison affects cows and horses the most.

I hope this raises awareness of this tree. Thanks again for the responses!

DavidS

 

[Nicole01]

We have wild chokecherry trees on our property. The chickens love the berries, as well as the wild birds. I thought chickens knew better then to eat anything harmful.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

The problem of all cherry trees for livestock, ruminants in particular, are the leaves. At some point during the wilting process they become lethal from arsenic. They are fine when green or completely dried apparently. I have goats and a cow, so put all my cherries in an area they cannot access.

 

[myfivehens]

Well, just witnessed my girls eating some. Hopefully no ill affects!

 

[WVDoug]

The twigs and leaves release a poison when "stressed" (wilting). The cherries are fine, (birds love them) but the seeds can also release the toxin amygdalin when crushed. Amygdalin becomes cyanide in the body).
Last year I harvested many gallons of wild cherries from my trees and froze most. I just made syrup from wild black cherries and am having some homemade wild cherry soda right now, so I sure hope it's OK to eat!