Chickens typically know what foods are healthy for them to consume, but when it comes to my garden, I prefer to select edible flowers.
While we have azaleas, lupine, and other perennial plants that could be an issue if they ate them, I don’t worry all that much because our flock has so much other food to eat when they’re out roaming the yard. In general, chickens know what’s harmful for them and will remain clear.
I do, however, tend to choose edible annual flowers when picking those to intentionally plant each spring. I think it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Our chickens occasionally stray into the flower beds, but they generally seem more interested in sifting through the soil in search of worms and bugs, sparing the flowers.
Since they are annuals towards the end of the season, I don’t mind if the hens choose to eat them.
What did I decide to grow this spring, then? Purple salvia, Proven Winners Royal Velvet petunias, and African marigolds. All of it is chicken and human-edible. Petunias bloom nonstop throughout the summer, salvia is a favorite of bees, and the marigolds planted along the garden’s edge help keep bugs out.
For the back porch, we also purchased some wax begonias in pots. Again, it is both human and animal-edible. (And you can rely on the Proven Winners brand since their plants are farmed by family-owned farms without the use of neonicotinoids, which can harm bees and other pollinators.)
Additionally, I grew some Calibrachoa. Calibrachoa belongs to the nightshade family of plants despite having a striking resemblance to petunias in appearance. This family also includes white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, all of which can be poisonous to hens.
The Calibrachoa were then placed in window boxes that were raised above the ground and in an area where hens don’t usually stray.
Before you go shopping for your spring annuals, refer to the lists of additional edible flower varieties I’ve included below. Also, keep in mind that all culinary herbs, such as lavender, pineapple sage, thyme, and basil, have edible flowers that are great for planting in areas where your chickens can forage.
Which plants are harmful to chickens?
Daffodils, foxglove, morning glory, yew, jimson weed, tulips, lily of the valley, azaleas, rhododendron, mountain laurel, monkshood, amaryllis, castor bean, trumpet vine, nightshade, nicotiana, and tansy are just a few of the plants that are harmful to hens.
Mexican petunia: edible to chickens?
I purchased Mexican petunia and strewn it liberally across the yard before I learned it was listed as an invasive plant. I loved how the plant’s long, straight stems made it a fantastic cut and drop plant. I like to pile it around my raised beds as temporary borders and toss it in walks to keep weeds at bay.
The fact that our Sulcata turtle and chickens may eat the Mexican petunia’s leaves and blossoms is another advantage of this plant.
By chopping it back before the flowers set seed and digging the clumps up when they spread outside of their allocated containers, I try to limit how much it spreads.
- Members of the nightshade family (therefore keep hens away from tomatoes and tomato plants!).
- Boxwood.
- the castor bean
- Clematis.
- Eucalyptus.
- Hydrangea.
- Iris.
- Ivy.
Nasturtium
The leaves and blossoms of nasturtium are not only attractive to insects that consume the dreadful squash beetle larvae, but they are also edible to humans and make lovely salad garnishes.
Your chickens will adore eating the blooms and leaves, which are known to contain antibacterial and natural worming characteristics.
Squash blossoms
They are delicious when filled with a sausage/ricotta mixture and cooked, and fowl also enjoy them just from the vine.
Let children occasionally indulge; the flower is a wonderful source of calcium, iron, and vitamin A.
Marigolds
In addition to keeping insects away from your garden, marigolds act as an antioxidant and encourage the development of new skin cells.
In addition, chickens who consume marigolds produce eggs with vibrant yellow yolks.
Bee Balm
The lovely flower known as bee balm has leaves that may be used to make a healthy tea with antibacterial characteristics that can be used to treat respiratory issues in both humans and hens.
Naturally, it also draws bees, which aid in pollinating your fruit trees and flowers. The bloom and foliage will be tasty to your chickens.
Dandelions
Dandelions taste great in salads. Technically speaking, they are weeds, so why not pick some for your chickens instead of spraying them?
They are one of your yard’s most nutrient-dense plants and a natural detoxifier, containing a lot of iron, calcium, and vitamin A.
Roses
Both humans and hens can benefit from the blood-toxin-clearing, antiseptic, and antibacterial properties of roses and rose hips.
Another traditional and lovely technique to add an edible decoration to a cake is with roses.
Sunflower seeds
Sunflower seeds are undoubtedly a favorite among the feathered community. They are also incredibly healthy, giving both humans and hens protein and necessary fatty acids.
Your chickens will enjoy stripping the stalks of the leaves, which are also edible.
Can chickens be poisoned by marigolds?
Your flock of free-range animals enjoys sauntering through the garden and treating the dandelions, marigolds, and squash flowers as an endless salad bar. A balanced diet should include plenty of fresh fruits, veggies, and garden greens, but not every plant in your garden is beneficial to your chickens. Some are actually poisonous.
14 typical farming plants that are poisonous to your flock are listed below. They might become overly hungry if you feed them these plants or keep them in a garden area where these dangerous plants are thriving. Remember that there are hundreds of plants that can be dangerous to your chickens; this is by no means an exhaustive list. Do your study to keep your chickens safe before opening the coop doors to let your flock forage.
Are poisonous wild petunias present?
Petunias are non-toxic flowers, unlike Tulips or Hydrangeas, making them a perfect option to grow in your garden if you have pets. Although consuming these plants won’t likely hurt your dog, you shouldn’t actively promote them. They might unintentionally eat other flowers that are deadly as a result of this.
No petunia plant component has been reported to be hazardous to dogs, according to the ASPCA. Additionally, there are no recorded incidents of their being poisonous to other common household animals like cats and rabbits. Any plant material consumed in big quantities may give dogs a slight digestive upset. Deter your dog from eating anything from your garden beds even when it is not hazardous.
Petunias can be eaten.
Although some flowers taste better than they smell, not all flowers have a delicious flavor. Many inedible flowers have unpleasant flavors but are not poisonous. Verify again and again which blooms are edible and which are not. Occasionally, flowers used as garnishes in restaurants have inedible parts. For instance, while certain orchids are offered, not all of them are. Although they belong to the nightshade family and have been used as garnish, petunias should not be consumed. African violets can’t be eaten. Although many common marigolds lack flavor, other varieties of marigolds do. The “Lemon Gem” and “Orange Gem” varieties of Gem Marigold are the edible varieties.
Some flowers are merely unappealing, while others have the potential to make you very ill. You shouldn’t eat foxglove, flower of the valley, oleander, 4 o’clocks, wisteria, or sweet pea. Additionally, Schreiber advises against picking flowers from roadside ditches for meals because you never know what has been used to spray them or how clean they are. She also warns against confusing viola flowers with tasty African violets.
To ensure that the flowers you consume haven’t been treated with pesticides, Teresa O’Connor, author of Grocery Gardening, advises buying organically produced seed plants and producing your own delicious flowers. Schreiber advises against consuming plants in the daisy family, such as sunflower, if you have severe allergies. Additionally, young children under the age of four should not eat flowers.
Many of us are unclear of which flowers are edible and may even be hesitant to eat flowers altogether when gorgeous nasturtiums or violas adorn our plates. Even while edible flowers give our meals a charming new twist, Schreiber noted that including flowers on the menu is nothing new. In the Middle East, there is evidence of flower ingestion dating back to at least 2000 BC. Growing edible flowers for you and your family to eat is an old technique that has been rediscovered in modern gardening, much like growing our own food is an ancient activity that is being discovered again.
Are daisy blossoms edible to chickens?
Scavengers are chickens. Foragers. Omnivores. In addition to insects and worms, they eat weeds, flowers, and plants. They search the earth for the nourishment they enjoy. Chickens will eat greens and bugs all day long if given access to them. We like seeing them contentedly pecking around in the yard. However, have you ever considered what plants they are truly consuming? Have you ever considered that some of these plants could be poisonous? Or maybe some of them are more advantageous than you might assume. This post will go through which weeds, herbs, and flowers are beneficial to your flock, which ones to stay away from, and which ones have unique health advantages.
Weeds may anger us, yet our flock can benefit greatly from their health and nutrition. particularly weeds like chickweed, dandelions, and clover. Iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc are also present in dandelions, which are also a good source of calcium and the vitamins A, B, C, E, and K. Chickweed promotes digestive health and functions as a natural pain reliever. B vitamins are also abundant in chickweed. A perennial plant with high levels of calcium, niacin, potassium, vitamins A and B, iron, and protein is clover. It is a very healthy plant for chickens to eat, helping with respiratory and circulatory health.
What kinds of flowers won’t hens eat?
Some landowners in Montgomery County are now concerned about poultry in addition to deer. Particularly young families like the educational opportunities that keeping hens provides for their kids. Vegetation should be a regular element of the diet of chickens because they love it and need to eat it. A garden can be swiftly destroyed by hens, which is unfortunate for the owners. But just like deer, there are many herbs that can be used in the landscape that hens won’t eat. Borage, calendula (pot marigold), catnip, chives, feverfew, lavender, marjoram, Mexican sage, peppermint, and spearmint, as well as rosemary, sage, salvias, St. John’s wort, tansy, and yarrow are a few of these. Almost any plant will eventually be consumed by chickens if there is no other food source. These herbs will add color and texture to the landscaping, but chickens won’t eat them if they have access to other plants during mealtime.
Some herbs’ potent aromas or fuzzy leaves will deter both chickens and deer from foraging in the garden. These plants will enhance the landscape all year long with beauty and enjoyment.
Can hens eat geraniums?
Numerous flowers can be safely fed to hens, including:
Flowers from any member of the brassica family, which includes kale, Kohl-rabi, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, romenesco, Brussels sprouts, and calabrese, are permissible for chicken consumption. Therefore, if you cultivate any of these types, as I do, you can wait until they flower before removing them and giving the entire plant to your flock.
I’ve been raising a patch of dandelions for years to provide my chickens with early spring vegetables. It turns out that I was helping the without even realizing it. The yolks benefit from the yellow color.
Pumpkin, zucchini, and courgette blooms are enormous, brilliant yellow, and frequently consumed by humans, so there is no reason your hens should miss out on some.
These were my first edible introduction, and because to the abundance I get from my pumpkin trees, the hens never go hungry. Cucurbitacin, a toxin found in the green stems and leaves of the plants, should not be fed to animals. Only feed the male flowers because, in most situations, they must be pollinated in order to produce fruit.
With the exception of the parsnip, which contains deadly tips, many root vegetable blooms that you grow in your garden can be fed to hens without risk. All of these vegetables are palatable to chickens, including rutabaga, turnip, beetroot, carrot, and radish blossoms. Once more, apply these plants on cultivated species and stay away from the wild varieties. Even your carrot tips can be resprouted to produce greens and blossoms for hens.
Below: I give some of my radishes to the hens that have gone to blossom.
Never feed potatoes or other green sections to hens since they are root vegetables rather than tubers like potatoes.
Natural cures have traditionally included the use of roses and rose hips, and the hip is particularly rich in vitamin C.
Bolting and blossoming lettuce is definitely too bitter for most people, yet chickens don’t seem to mind and continue to eat it.
Clover – Both the red and white clover blooms are safe for chickens to eat because the entire plant is edible.
There are some concerns regarding whether the sulfur compounds in the onion family of plants will hurt chickens or flavor the eggs. These concerns include onion, chive, and garlic blossoms. My chickens accidentally ate the entire green tops of an onion plant in my vegetable garden, but there were no negative consequences.
Marigold: To prepare for winter, grow the common French marigold, cut off the green sections, and dry the petals.
Many people use echinacea, also known as coneflower, which is a plant whose flowers and seeds are thought to be beneficial for enhancing lung health. Echinacea may assist because hens are prone to respiratory diseases.
Thistle: My chickens prefer to wait for the seeds, but in the late summer, I’ve noticed that they also eat the vivid purple blossoms.
Sunflowers: Sunflower petals can be eaten. If the seed head is green, remove it completely. If the seed head is ripe, offer the seeds to the hens as well.
Geranium – The flowers of geraniums are edible, but if you use too much vivid red, it can cause the yolks to become red.
Violets: Safe for hens and used in cookery since the Roman era.
All edible herb blooms, including borage (Borago offincinalis), dill (Anethum graveolens), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), rosemary (Salvia officinalis), and basil (Ocimum basilicum), can be fed to chickens without risk.