Been looking this up----allsorts of opinions found! Taxines (the poisonous alkaloids) are apparently found in the needles/leaves of Yew as well as the berries and so should be highly toxic as well , have found references to chickens dying from needles and berries and also loads who say their poultry eat both the leaves and berries and are fine! Knowing just how toxic it is to mammals( even widely used as a chemotherapeutic agent ) I would not let any live creature near it! Ros