Does anyone know if wandering jew, convovulous and ivy are poisonous to chooks?

[Vicki Hill]

A recent post has prompted me to thinking I might be able to solve a weed problem at our place by putting the chooks on them!  My bantam girls are currently in a run on an old vege plot, digging up weeds and making decent compost - more than earning their keep :)  The nor-west corner of our section has a huge peach tree in it and the neighbours have large trees in that corner so it is very shady and currently overrun with convovulous, ivy and wandering jew.  I was thinking I could build an enclosure around the weeds (and tree) and put the chooks in there.

Does anyone know whether these plants are poisonous to hens?  And would they get rid of the weeds, help control them or just make the problem worse by spreading the plants/seeds around?

[Vicki Hill]

Hi all, thought you might like an update - two months on and our 'problem' area is all but cleared. Last month we adopted 7 ex-battery hens and a couple of bantams and they've well and truly dealt to the weeds. The ivy was very well established so I periodically go in and clear the heavy roots/vines and pull what convolvulous roots I spy (the girls love these times and are constantly under my feet trying to get at all the juicy bugs I uncover for them) but all the vegetation has either been eaten or destroyed with all the scratching. And best of all, the girls have uncovered BEAUTIFUL soil for us. I can't wait to see how all this activity affects the old peach tree and get planting in there next spring - I plan to keep an eye on the area until then, pulling any stragglers that try to pop through, then will move the girls to another part of the property and start using this area as a vege plot. Thank you all for your advice - after this experience, I'd definitley recommend chooks for this job!

[Vicki Hill]

Update: The girls have been in their new area for about a week now and are doing well. Already made a dent in the weed patch and seem to be loving it, especially all the delicious bugs that have been caught unawares. Thanks for all your help!

[Brian Adam]

I've found that our chooks don't actually volunteer to clear up the wandering jew while freeranging. So when I put them in the run each day I grap up an arm-full and tie it together and dangle it inside their run. Then they eat it up. EXCEPT for the stems, the darned critters!

[Rebekah Hay]

My chooks love wandering jew, won't touch ivy, and sometimes eat morning glory but not much. I move their enclosure around my garden and they've cleaned up all the wandering jew they could find. It hasn''t grown back yet.

I trust them not to eat anything leafy that would be poisonous to them because they evolved as forest birds.

[Jenny Freewalker]

Wandering jew can also be turned into wonderful soil if it is put in black bags and left for a couple of years. Also chooks will eat poisonous plants if they are hungry.

[thegardener007]

Wandering Jew is fine. They will only eat so much of it as Kali said. Can't see them getting into ivy or anything from the Convovulaceae family for more than a quick test.

[Vicki Hill]

Wonderful, thanks Kali! It might be worth the trouble of having some regrow - maybe if I make a smaller pen and move it around, I could follow them and pick up whatever is left over. Hmmm ... might work.

[Kali]

I know they eat wandering jew, so they would definately trim that back, but you would still get lots of little bits broken up that might regrow I should think .