Can chickens eat privet??

Hi. This is my first ever post so I'm hoping I've done it OK 
My girls are in an area, one side of which is a privet hedge.  My OH says privet is poisonous but when I cut the hedge yesterday, the girls started scratting around in the clippings and seemed to enjoy themselves.  I also noticed that the bottom 2 feet or so of privet leaves are 'nibbled' from when they (the girls) have been jumping up to pick off flies that are sitting on leaves in the hedge!  Will this do them any harm?  They seem OK so far so I'm hoping......