[didan]

i have recently been given 6 hens so i am quite new to looking after them i must be doing something right cause they give me beautifull fresh eggs every day.  My problem is that when i let them out to roam around the garden they make a beeline for my passion friuts, i know these fruits are not edible to us humans what i want to know is will they hurt my hens. does anybody know please.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Are you sure? What I know as passion fruits are edible although they don't usually fruit in the UK, just flower. Where are you? Don't know about the plants though. Most chickens don't seem to eat stuff that is poisonous.

[Chookiechook]

I have eaten a UK passion fruit and lived   It was pretty tasteless though

Mine make a beeline for the crab  apples (I think thats what they are) that are all over my lawn at the moment

[8doubles]

The last cold winter knocked my passion flower for six, it`s just about alive but i used to eat the fruit no problems. There`s not much in them compared to the ones grown for the table but they are edible. Blackbirds like them as well.

[lucylou]

hi there!  ive got a psaaion fruit in my garden and the hens found one which was split open and ate the pips, i was a bit worried at first but they were fine so i split open the other fruits & let them have them too

[viettaclark]

Mine go for the dangly red flowers and purple seeds of the Himalayan honeysuckle and leap high in the air to get them, then nibble the small end seeds and discard the rest. They seem to know what's edible. So funny the way they make a frantic waddle dash straight for the bush when they're let out!!!

[didan]

thanks for your replies, my girls have eaten quite a few of the fruits and they do appear to be ok so i will try not to worry to much about them. i have always believed that my passion flower fruits were poisonous. its a shame because the plant is hanging with them

[didan]

my passion flowers latin name is passiflora caerulea, fruits are edible, though somewhat  insipid in taste, but the leaves contain cyanide( i knew something was poisonous) i have just read all that on wikipedia