Grow Your Own Magazine

is it safe to use weedkiller on my chicken plot and if so how long should i keep the chicks away from the treated area

Most weedkilers are safe to animals and pets once they have dried,but chickens do scrape around a bit and peck at things so not to sure.

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Don't your chickens eat the weeds? Mine do, except for daisies

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I have a huge patch in the corner of my yard which would be perfect to enclose in for the hens, but there are loads of weeds, and a LOT of nettles in there.
My hens don't arrive for a week or two, and even when they do arrive I am fine to keep them out of that area while the weedkiller is "dispersing" or whatever it does.

Can I just liberally spray Roundup all over that patch and kill off the nettles before fencing it in for the girls??? Or is that a huge no-no?

Thanks in advance!

Ness

I would pull or cut the nettles off and leave the hens to clear the rest of the weeds.

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Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

I wouldn't risk mixing chickens and weedkiller, what weeds they don't eat they'll trample down anyway

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Always look on the bright side of life
View my blog - http://chooksandveggies.blogspot.com/

I agree with shirlthegirl- they really will clear up any bits of weeds that are left very quickly- I'd just cut/pull the weeds enough to set up the chicken enclosure & let the chooks do the rest

So they're safe to be around nettles then?
Sorry, it's just that I'm not from the UK and we don't have nettles back home so I wasn't sure if it was ok to have them near nettles.
Thanks all, I'll leave well enough alone and let them do their own thing.

Cheers

Ness

That's what chickens are for, surely? To clear the ground, fertilise it, then you can put plants in while you eat the chickens!

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TwoSheds - I didn't say I wasn't aware of the fact that chickens clear the ground & fertilise it, I was asking about NETTLES!!!
So, do you have anything useful to add about chickens and nettles?

Apparently chickens don't like nettles to eat - or so I've been told, never given mine any to try

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Always look on the bright side of life
View my blog - http://chooksandveggies.blogspot.com/

Nettles are good food for goats and (once wilted) for most grazers. Not sure about chickens. Never noticed them eating nettles, but..... It won't do the chooks any harm, but you can bet they will choose the middle of the nettle patch for an unofficial nestbox, which makes it painful to collect the eggs.<g>

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Once ours had cleared the rest of their weeds they moved onto the nettles~guessing it's not their 1st choice of weed,but once the rest had gone weren't too fussy!!~They're still here so I can only assume they're safe!

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I expect it is an urban myth, but when I was a boy I was told that the farmer gave his chickens a "sheaf" of nettles before their meal. After the nettles they then ate the grit etc. furiously afterwards, and that strengthened the shell on their eggs ...

... let me know if it works please?

I'm using my chickens as weed killers I've built them a holiday home on my allotment on a weedy patch and intend to take them over there a few times a week (first trip was last saturday and they had a whale of a time) and then move the run to a new patch once they've done the weeding for me.. nettles may not be their first choice but they will eat them and certainly didn;t seem bothered by them...

Lovely!
Thanks so much for all the replies, much appreciated!
Now that I know they're safe for the girls, I won't worry about clearing the patch in advance

Cheers!!!

Ness