Toxic food?

[crewy05]

Hi all, whilst I class my self as quite an experienced keeper of ducks, i've never really considered the hazards that things we grow in the garden (except from plants) can cause to them. Whilst sat in my living room and watching the ducks on my patio, I noticed they started to stretch up and eat the leafs on my potato plants that were hanging down from the raised planters I have them in, at first I thought nothing of this but then soon realised could these be poisonous? Again the same with tomato plant I have (they have not managed to reach any yet.) As I always understood it, birds and poultry in general are quite clever and don't tend to eat things they know are bad for them?

Would like to hear your thoughts on this,

James

 

[chrismahon]

I think you are right Crewy05. They instinctively avoid stuff that is bad for them unless there are no other greens they can reach. When we were in the dismal darkness that is the Dordogne last year our chickens were under dense tree coverage. The ground was very poor, with little grass and lots of moss and Ivy. 8 Wyandottes stripped to earth and rocks a 200 square metre run in 2 weeks. The only thing left was Ivy, which is supposed to be poisonous. Still they ate that last and fortunately it wasn't, but the poos were a very green colour indeed!

I know rhubarb leaves are poisonous. Ours had access to that in the UK and ignored it. Poison Ivy goes without saying and we had a few of those where I dug deep to get the tubers out. Ours ignored potato leaves as well. But they were on grass and ate that anyway and lots of it.

 

[crewy05]

Thanks for the reply chrismahon, they have plenty of grass, wildflower and food to eat yet they just seem to enjoy a nibble or 2 on the potatoes? Odd