I originally made this a post, but I think it’s an important enough topic to have it’s own page as well.
Spring has sprung, and the chickens are getting much more outside time. With that in mind, while doing spring yard cleanup, it’s smart to pay extra attention to things that could potentially damage your foraging hens. The winter snow covers so much, and invariably I find things like screws, nails, candy wrappers, Styrofoam pieces & cigarette butts that somehow find their way into my yard. If I don’t clean those things up, the chickens WILL find them- and if they find them, they’ll try to eat them. They’re not always the smartest of birds.
Additionally, spring is a good time to review what sort of plants you have growing in and around your yard, to make sure you’re not exposing your chickeny charges to something dangerous. Below, I’ve pasted a list of toxic plants from chickenkeepingsecrets.com:
| ARUM LILY | ELEPHANT EAR (TARO) | MOONSEED |
| AMARYLLIS | ENGLISH IVY | MORNING GLORY |
| ARALIA | ERGOT | MTN. LAUREL |
| ARROWHEAD VINE | EUCALYPTUS (DRIED, DYED OR TREATED IN FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS) | MUSHROOMS, AMANITA |
| AUTUMN CROCUS | EUONYMUS (SPINDLE TREE) | MYRTLE |
| AUSTRALIAN FLAMETREE | EUPHORBIA CACTUS | NARCISSUS |
| AUSTRALIAN UMBRELLA TREE | FALSE HELLEBORE | NETTLES |
| AVOCADO | FLAME TREE | NIGHTSHADES: (DEADLY, BLACK, GARDEN, WOODY, BITTERSWEET, |
| AZALEA | FELT PLANT (MATERNITY, AIR & PANDA PLANTS) | EGGPLANT, JERUSALEM CHERRY) |
| BANEBERRY | FIG (WEEPING) | OAK |
| BEANS: (CASTOR, HORSE, FAVA, BROAD, GLORY, SCARLET RUNNER, | FIRE THORN | OLEANDER |
| MESCAL, NAVY, PREGATORY) | FLAMINGO FLOWER | OXALIS |
| BIRD OF PARADISE | FOUR O’CLOCK | PARSLEY |
| BISHOP’S WEED | FOXGLOVE | PEACE LILY |
| BLACK LAUREL | GLOTTIDIUM | PERIWINKLE |
| BLACK LOCUST | GOLDEN CHAIN | PHILODENDRONS: (SPLIT LEAF, SWISS CHEESE, HEART-LEAF) |
| BLEEDING HEART OR DUTCHMAN’S BREECHES | GRASS: (JOHNSON, SORGHUM, SUDAN & BROOM CORN) | PIGWEED |
| BLOODROOT | GROUND CHERRY | POINCIANA |
| BLUEBONNET | HEATHS: (KALMIA, LEUCOTHO, PEIRES, RHODODENDRON, MTN. LAUREL, | POINSETTIA |
| BLUEGREEN ALGAE | BLACK LAUREL, ANDROMEDA & AZALEA) | POISON IVY |
| BOXWOOD | HELIOTROPE | POISON HEMLOCK |
| BRACKEN FERN | HEMLOCK: (POISON & WATER) | POISON OAK: (WESTERN & EASTERN) |
| BUCKTHORN | HENBANE | POKEWEED |
| BULB FLOWERS: (AMARYLLIS, DAFFODIL, NARCISSUS, HYACINTH & IRIS) | HOLLY | POTATO SHOOTS |
| BURDOCK | HONEYSUCKLE | POTHOS |
| BUTTERCUP | HORSE CHESTNUT | PRIVET |
| CACAO | HORSE TAIL | PYRACANTHA |
| CAMEL BUSH | HOYA | RAIN TREE |
| CASTOR BEAN | HYACINTH | RANUNCULUS, BUTTERCUP |
| CALADIUM | HYDRANGEA | RAPE |
| CANA LILY | IRIS IVY: (ENGLISH & OTHERS) | RATTLEBOX, CROTALARIA |
| CARDINAL FLOWER | JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT | RED MAPLE |
| CHALICE (TRUMPET VINE) | JASMINE (JESSAMINE) | RED SAGE (LANTANA) |
| CHERRY TREE | JERUSALEM CHERRY | RHUBARB LEAVES |
| CHINA BERRY TREE | JIMSONWEED | RHODODENDRONS |
| CHRISTMAS CANDLE | JUNIPER | ROSARY PEA SEEDS |
| CLEMATIS (VIRGINIA BOWER) | KY. COFFEE TREE | SAND BOX TREE |
| CLIVIA | LANTANA (RED SAGE) | SKUNK CABBAGE |
| COCKLEBUR | LARKSPUR | SORREL (DOCK) |
| COFFEE (SENNA) | LILY OF THE VALLEY | SNOW DROP |
| COFFEE BEAN (RATTLEBUSH, RATTLE BOX & COFFEEWEED) | LILY, ARUM | SPURGES: (PENCIL TREE, SNOW-ON-MTN, CANDELABRA, CROWN OF THORNS) |
| CORAL PLANT | LOBELIA | STAR OF BETHLEHEM |
| CORIANDER | LOCOWEED (MILK VETCH) | SWEET PEA |
| CORNCOCKLE | LOCUSTS, BLACK / HONEY | SWISS CHEESE PLANT (MONSTERA) |
| COYOTILLO | LORDS & LADIES (CUCKOOPINT) | TANSY RAGWORT |
| COWSLIP | LUPINE | TOBACCO |
| CUTLEAF PHILODENDRON | MALANGA | UMBRELLA PLANT |
| DAFFODIL | MARIJUANA (HEMP) | VETCH: HAIRY/COMMON |
| DAPHNE | MAYAPPLE (MANDRAKE) | VIRGINIA CREEPER |
| DATURA STRAMONIUM (ANGEL’S TRUMPET) | MEXICAN BREADFRUIT | WATTLE |
| DEATH CAMUS | MEXICAN POPPY | WEEPING FIG |
| DELPHINIUM | MILKWEED, COTTON BUSH | WHITE CEDAR, CHINA BERRY |
| DEVIL’S IVY | MISTLETOE | WISTERIA |
| DIEFFENBACHIA (DUMB CANE) | MOCK ORANGE | YEWS |
| ELDERBERRY | MONKSHOOD | YELLOW JASMIN |
Is elderberry toxic to chickens?
According to PoultryDVM:
Caution – Potential Toxicity: Elderberry leaves, stems, roots and immature fruit are capable of producing large amounts of cyanide (a deadly toxin). Also, chickens should not be given large quantities of the berries to snack on either—as even when mature, S. nigra contains an assortment of active ingredients, which if ingested in large quantities, can be toxic to poultry.
Additionally, according to NormsFarms.com:
A common misperception is that the European Elder is the edible variety of Black Elderberry and that the American Elder is not edible, or does not contain the same constituents for which the European Black Elderberry is known. In fact, they are now considered to be different varieties of the same genus-species, and current research on the American Black Elderberry indicates that it may actually contain more of the anthocyanin’s and polyphenols thought to give elderberry its health benefits. The seeds, stems, leaves and roots of the Black Elder are all poisonous to humans. They contain a cyanide-inducing glycoside. Eating a sufficient quantity of these cyanide-inducing glycosides can cause a toxic buildup of cyanide in the body and make you quite ill. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and even coma. Most people recover quickly, although hospitalization may be required. The fruit of the elderberry is a tiny berry, about 1/8 to ¼ inch in diameter, and about 50% of the berry is seed. Cooking the berries destroys the glycosides present in the seeds, making the berries with their seeds safe to eat. As such, the fruit of the Black Elderberry should always be cooked before consumption. Interestingly, research indicates that exposing elderberry to heat actually concentrates the polyphenols and anthocyanin’s.
Verdict: Proceed with caution. Chickens don’t appear to really love eating the plant parts, but love the fruits. It might made sense to place chicken wire around the plant prior to fruit ripening.
This is in no ways definitive, and there are other lists floating around out there. For instance, this list on poultryhelp.com cites several plants that aren’t on the list above, such as lamb’s quarters, a common backyard weed in Michigan. I’ve found nothing that indicates lamb’s quarters are toxic for chickens- in fact, my chickens have eaten them since last year, and I regularly eat them in salads and spinach pie. Likewise, that list also cites alfalfa, which many chicken keepers give directly to their hens. Do your homework with plants you may have around, watch what your chickens go after, and be cautious. For instance, from the above list I have quite a few toxic plants, like daffodils, burdock, wisteria, and lily of the valley. I noticed a few days ago that my daffodils are starting to poke through the ground, and one curious hen grabbed a bit of green in her beak. Before I could chase her off, she let go and walked away- on some of the more toxic plants, they’ll leave them alone of their own accord. Does that mean I trust the chickens to 100% never eat anything dangerous, or that I could leave them in their chicken tractor parked over a bed of daffodils. Nope. It’s better to be safe than sorry, and to limit their access to poisonous plants in ways that make sense. Most of the things naturally growing in your yard will be fine for your chickens to peck and eat- keep them away from tomato plants & potato plants (nightshades), ornamental plants, and seedpods (especially wisteria).
Ferndale Chickens 
My chickens eat the wysteria flowers when they bloom and I have never had a problem. They actually love it and as soon the petals hit the ground they eat it.
Our chickens love burdock and I know of others that eat red honeysuckle berries.
My chickens love tobacco, the butts of hand rolled cigarettes.
This is an outrageous list, absolute hogwash. I wish you would remove it from your Internet as it has already been spread around the internet enough as it is.
All websites linked throw a 404 Error, you have zero references named here. You obviously are not an expert on the subject and neither are your sources. Why confuse people to this degree.
Markus: I’m not going to remove it from my Internet, nor do any of the links throw a 404 error. If you have a better list, pony up.
Agree with Markus, list is about 90% manure.
Trust your birds, they are honestly smarter than most all of you city slicking yuppies.
Seriously I’ve never seen anything like this in all my life and neither have 4 generations of my family who have always lived through out the mountains and country from West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. If I were to take your list seriously and rid my land of all those things it would be a barren dessert. Well it might look like a manicured sterile grass (only) suburb city yard where people spray their yards to kill weeds and bugs that are mostly beneficial like clovers and honeybees! And is why kids these days don’t even know what crickets or grasshoppers are or the role they play in raising chickens. Mother Nature used to have a way of weeding out idiots. That goes for chickens. They aren’t as stupid as you think and can learn for themselves what’s good for them. I would give you some advise that you should keep your birds locked in a pin because if I was your chickens I would have done ran to the neighbors!
We had two bird of paradise clumps in our backyard. One got surrounded by the chicken run. Our hens loved it! After they ate all the low hanging leaves they would jump to catch the upper leaves but more often than not the leaves would spring back leaving the chicken with only a “bite” of leaf. Then very slowly and methodically went about obliterating the clump. First they would peck away, low down at the stem, until they managed to “fell” the whole thing and eat it up, stem and all. Once they completely denuded the plant, this took a few months, they went to work on the root system from the plant end eating the tasty pulpy root as if it were a grub, together with whatever bugs they found tucked away amongst the roots. All that remains of that bird of paradise (toxic to chickens, I’ve read) is a dirt mound with a few dried scraggly roots sticking up. They take turns climbing atop the mound in their game of “queen of the hill.”
I do not think lambsquarters are dangerous i commonly feed them to my hens so they make darker
egg yolks. I do agree about alfalfa and clovers (legumes. They can be dangerous. I think I killed a couple of my birds by feeding large quantity of arrowleaf clover. Suspect the coumarins got the birds
as they did not have much else to eat at the time. I agree that pokeweed is bad if it has gotten red stems like our parents told us to not eat if that late only while it was young and still green stemmed.
My birds consumed all the young poke in their run quickly. I have them fenced away from the old
red stemmed plants now. Milkweed seems to be a desired treat. I pull it out of yard and take it to the
hens and they devour it.
Just caught one of my free range chooks eating petals from ornamental tobacco blossom! Usually they won’t eat anything toxic. My flock is about 5 to 8 years old and free range about 10 acres of bush land that has plenty of toxic plants. Never lost one yet.
Whenever I read over this list, I find yet another plant I know my chickens eat with no ill effect. It doesn’t promote confidence.
Many of the plants listed here are toxic to all animals, including humans. Including these just makes the list unnecessarily extensive.
Does anyone know if the leaves of the fava bean plant are toxic? I keep seeing it crop up on these lists. I know the beans themselves are toxic but what about they leaves? My chickens love them but now I’m worried 😬
All my chickens eat the wisteria flowers and the leaves that they can reach, I haven’t had a problem with it.
So, this is the first year for me to raise chickens for laying eggs. I’ve been reading article after article from website to website and I must ask, do you raise chickens or just study them from books and other peoples articles in order to come up with a list like this one? Have you had chickens die or become very ill from eating these plants listed?
I am trying to weigh the pros and cons to your articles list of toxic plants and the other chicken owners that have replied to your article.
Thanks