Maureen, When the plants are stressed from drought and heat, chemicals in the leaves can concentrate and can cause toxic problems. Chickweed is listed as toxic and people eat it too. If stressed the nicotinic acids in chickweed concentrate. When chickweed is succulent the amount is lower. The head of the poultry diagnostic lab told me to be careful with it. I knew to only feed healthy, unstressed plants and feed as much as they can eat several days a week. Cathryn
I was noodling around on the internet, trying to identify the weed growing all over my property: Cheeseweed, or little mallow. I was wondering if the chickens can eat it safely, and read that it can cause egg whites to go pink, and can "reduce egg quality". Not deadly, but apparently not very good for them, either.
While perusing a site that listed plants toxic to chickens, I noticed that one of the plants listed is cabbage! I have been throwing wild mustard weeds to my chickens as I pull them up, and wild mustard is in the same family, the brassicas. It is also listed as toxic. They don't seem sick from it... they love to eat it... what is this all about? Just a little while ago some folks here talked about hanging up cabbages in the winter time for the chickens to peck at. Should I really stop feeding leftover cabbage, and wild mustard greens, to my chickens? Maureen and the girls at the
Rowdy Girls Ranch
Tucson, AZ
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