I'm not particularly bothered what happens to the plants, we have tonnes of
potatoes growing, but I'm a bit worried that hte chickens are munching
through what I had assumed are poisonous plants, put up as a barrier to stop
them coming down the steps.

Can chickens eat potato foliage or should I remove them?
(I always thought they had one of those "know not to eat them" things about
them, but they were also eating bluebells, which I think are also
poisonous)

--

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:53:53 +0000, vicky wrote:

but they were also eating bluebells, which I think are also
poisonous)

poisonous to mammals poisonous to birds

Derek Turner wrote:
but they were also eating bluebells, which I think are also
poisonous)

poisonous to mammals poisonous to birds

Not /necessarily/ poisonous to. Which is why I'm asking for confirmation.

On 29 Jun 2011 14:06:16 GMT, wrote:

Derek Turner wrote:
but they were also eating bluebells, which I think are also
poisonous)

poisonous to mammals poisonous to birds

Not /necessarily/ poisonous to. Which is why I'm asking for confirmation.

I don't know if your chickens would class themselves as "exotic" but
the following link relates to exotic birds and indicates that the
foliage of potatoes and other plants is poisonous. Hope this helps.

http://www.exoticbird.com/toxicfood.html

We always throw our potato peelings for our chucks, they do like to eat them sometimes but not always.
They do eat some weird things though, we have ivy growing all the way down one side of our chicken run and they love the stuff and have cleared all the leaves off to around 18" high!!
Just goes to show.

wrote in message
...
I'm not particularly bothered what happens to the plants, we have tonnes
of
potatoes growing, but I'm a bit worried that hte chickens are munching
through what I had assumed are poisonous plants, put up as a barrier to
stop
them coming down the steps.

Can chickens eat potato foliage or should I remove them?
(I always thought they had one of those "know not to eat them" things
about
them, but they were also eating bluebells, which I think are also
poisonous)

--
Both plants will not do them much good. I would advise removing your
chickens from where the plants are.
You cannot always rely on their intelligence, the phrase "bird brain" was
not coined for no reason.
Having said that, they *do* often know what or what not to eat but I would
not allow mine to eat potato haulms or any part of a bluebell and if they
did, I'd remove them from where they could.
Hope this helps.
Tina

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:18:25 +0200, Martin wrote:
I await the potato plants eat chickens thread.

The way the modern world is, I'd sometimes welcome an outbreak of triffids

--
Bob Harvey OETKB

Martin wrote:
poisonous to mammals poisonous to birds
Not /necessarily/ poisonous to. Which is why I'm asking for confirmation.
Are they dead chickens?

Not /yet/.

I await the potato plants eat chickens thread.

:-)

Christina Websell wrote:
Both plants will not do them much good. I would advise removing your
chickens from where the plants are.

The potato plants are in pots, so it's easier to remove the plants. :-)
I'll find another way of barriering, looks like this isn't ideal.

Thanks.