The apple tree in the chicken run was still surviving, much to my surprise. Below are the three amigos showcasing the apple tree.
Apricot and the apple tree
Cinnamon and the apple tree
Dandelion and the apple tree
You can see that there have been a few nibbles at the leaves. My husband saw Cinnamon pecking at it and I saw Freckles pecking at it. They didn’t continue to eat it though.
It seemed odd because the big girls from my past flock used to fly up into the tree and nibble the leaves.
After it was cut down it used to get pecked to stalks every time it sprouted. This time it has grown back with only an occasion nibble. I was perplexed as to why it was surviving.
I decided to do some research and googled a question asking if apple tree leaves were edible. I was horrified to find that they are not. Apple tree leaves and apple seeds contain a chemical that is metabolized into cyanide during digestion.
I knew this was true of apple pips but I didn’t know it was the same with apple leaves. I have read in the past that as chickens swallow the pips whole, without being able to crunch them, that the chemical isn’t released and therefore wouldn’t harm them but despite this I still remove the pips from their apples as I prefer to err on the safe side.
I have also read that chickens know what is poisonous to them and won’t eat it, unless they were starving and desperate for food, which of course our girls wouldn’t be. Even so once again I would rather err on the side of safety.
I am relieved that our girls have proved that they are clever enough to know that they shouldn’t eat the apple leaves but I could no longer be happy with the tree staying in the run with the leaves at low level. With this new bit of information I felt that the tree must go. I cut all the growth as low as I could and heaped soil over the remains leaving just the stump showing.
The apple tree is no more
I am so glad that I decided to research this. There are plenty of other shrubs in the run and I could not be comfortable with taking a risk of leaving something in the run that could be harmful to my girls. It also shows that it is good to question our girl’s behaviour. Sometimes it turns out that they are smarter than we think they are.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I had not heard this, cleaver girls to know not to eat them.Best that you got rid of them.
I researched all the things that are toxic to chickens before we got them and this didn’t come up. It was only because they weren’t eating it that I asked the specific question if apple tree leaves were edible. I am guessing it didn’t come up before because they would normally be out of the reach of chickens. I was horrified. It does show that they do know when something is toxic though. It’s odd that Dotty and Pepper used to sit in the apple tree and eat the occasional leaf. I know though, that a small amount of toxin can be tolerated, it is taking larger amounts that can be harmful.