[mikeschooks]

Have a couple of foxgloves in garden, are these poisonous for the chooks?  Also how often should I give the girls a dusting of 'redmite' and where should it be best directed?  Mike.

[Laverne88]

Foxgloves aren't good, at all, for any kind of livestock.......... I rate them about as useless as yew trees, wasps and rhodedendrens (goat owners nightmare!) and wonder what the hell God was thinking when he put them all on this earth!.
I'm not sure what everyone else, here,  thinks but I'm inclined to believe it's best to rip them up from the ground and get rid because the chickens will definately have a go at them at some stage or another. ....... and if it's general knowledge that they're poisonous to us, you can be sure  they will be poisonous to your birds.
Hope that helps x

[poultrygeist]

Hello Laverne88. Welcome 

Mike, I would have thought, like most things, they will nibble at them, find them bitter and leave them alone.
Unlike Laverne, I love to see foxgloves which are highly attractive to bees which need all the help they can get and look nice too.
IMO leave them where they are and enjoy them but keep an eye on them. Some chickens devour rhubarb leaves which are also toxic and seem to come to no harm.

Rob

[poultrygeist]

....and red mite powder can be dusted on the chickens themselves as well as in the nest box, round the house and in the dust bath.
It only acts as a deterrant to them and won't kill them. Not sure how often to do it, but I would have thought every few weeks would be adequate.

Rob

[raeburg]

Foxgloves are the natural source of digitalis which is a heart stimulant in humans.  Suspect it wouldn't do chooks much good.

[mumofstig]

Found this list of poisonous plants don't know if it helps
http://wiki.omlet.co.uk/index.php/List_of_plants_that_are_poisonous_or_harmful_to_chickens

[Aunt Sally]

I always grow fox gloves but my chooks don't go onto my flower border as I have a small fence along it.  So I can enjoy beautiful foxgloves and enchanting chooks

[GrannieAnnie]

A man who bought some of our first amberlinks lost one of them, and he said the only thing she had been eating which he was doubtful about were hs foxgloves!
but I don't know if it was that or not.

[Caralou]

Found this list of poisonous plants don't know if it helps
http://wiki.omlet.co.uk/index.php/List_of_plants_that_are_poisonous_or_harmful_to_chickens

Lily of the Valley is one there  I cut all mine out of the border and fed them to the chooks a few weeks back and they loved them - they were all fine thankfully. Feel bad now 

[Paul Plots]

Foxglove is poisonous to humans - we are not allowed to plant them on school grounds.

[Rubellite]

Foxglove is poisonous to humans - we are not allowed to plant them on school grounds.

Do kiddies eat foxgloves then? Why not leave them and educate the kids that they are poisonous? That way at least they can identify them!!

[andreadon]

i would err on not letting the chicks have them - but: although they are poisonous to humans, they are used in small quantities for heart medicine, as was alluded to earlier.

[Sassy]

Foxgloves aren't good, at all, for any kind of livestock.......... I rate them about as useless as yew trees, wasps and rhodedendrens (goat owners nightmare!) and wonder what the hell God was thinking when he put them all on this earth!.

yew clippings are used in the manufacture of a cancer drug

[Paul Plots]

Foxglove is poisonous to humans - we are not allowed to plant them on school grounds.

Do kiddies eat foxgloves then? Why not leave them and educate the kids that they are poisonous? That way at least they can identify them!!

This was almost exactly my response...... I wanted to add a whole host of "wild" flowers to our nature area but my botanist mate kept pointing out "LEA guidance".

How the heck will kids ever learn if we remove every risk from their lives and environment! 

Once told of the risks children tend only to ignore things that sound completely daft and none have munched their way through the privet hedge - all are aged over 7 and up to 11!

[bluemaran]

surely free range hens come up against all sorts of poisonous plants in and around the farm yards and fields they roam, and this is the best life for them,so maybe the foxglove can be left in peace