Privet berries as chicken feed

After reading here and then in the Tree Crops book that privet berries could be used as chicken feed, I was excited to try it.

I had always assumed they were toxic and sighed every time I saw the berries hanging in their millions from my unkillable privet groves so it was a nice jolt to my thinking to consider them as a possible benefit.

After a week's trial, I can report that my hens love them and show no ill effects.

Potentially a major boost to my plans to source my chicken feed entirely from what grows on my property - especially during the lean winter months.

Great to hear!  Grandma infamous in my family for feeding privet clippings (leaves and stems) to Dad's rabbits.  Total fatality involved
Edit:  Grandma OK,  but was never allowed to forget this transgression.

Jill Dyer wrote:Great to hear!  Grandma infamous in my family for feeding privet clippings (leaves and stems) to Dad's rabbits.  Total fatality involved
Edit:  Grandma OK,  but was never allowed to forget this transgression.

Oof.

I'm grateful my goats enjoy the leaves and bark - I wonder if leaf fall from the nearby tree into the rabbit pen caused some of my many rabbit deaths. As evergreen goat fodder tho it's got a lot going for it.

Gonna try coppicing to see if I can get some straighter poles out of it as well. Makes an okay firewood also.

It's amazing how even the "worst" invasives can serve so many purposes.

There was a privet hedge here when we bought the farm. I made killing it a priority. Not only dangerous to pets and livestock but also children. Can also cause skin and eye problems with sensitive people and the pollen is a real baddie for hay fever sufferers and apparently also for asthmatics.
And Sam to your comment about invasives-  
Some areas around here had major problems with saffron thistle infestations. My old father in law bred several hundred turkeys every year and he would look for properties with a major saffron thistle problem and ask permission to harvest the seed. He reckoned it was by far the best high protein turkey feed he ever used.

Jay Wright wrote:There was a privet hedge here when we bought the farm. I made killing it a priority. Not only dangerous to pets and livestock but also children. Can also cause skin and eye problems with sensitive people and the pollen is a real baddie for hay fever sufferers and apparently also for asthmatics.
And Sam to your comment about invasives-  
Some areas around here had major problems with saffron thistle infestations. My old father in law bred several hundred turkeys every year and he would look for properties with a major saffron thistle problem and ask permission to harvest the seed. He reckoned it was by far the best high protein turkey feed he ever used.

Unfortunately/fortunately, there was more than a hedge of privet when we got our place. Probably about 60% of the place was covered in it and we're only now reclaiming much of this privet forest for other purposes. I'm just glad there's a lot of uses for it, because I probably will never be rid of it.

At this right I might talk myself into planting some of your father in law's saffron thistle!

You'll find  a few straight tall suckers and limbs growing up through big privet clumps- they make excellent light rake handles which will last for several years. I broke one a month ago which I'd used for three years- I let it get weather damaged so my fault it broke, but I replaced it with another sapling from the same bush. I have one big privet plant blocking the sun off part of one wall of my shearing shed- it gets to live

I would research the privet berries further. They are not toxic and can be fed. What you may want to be a bit cautious about is their nutritional value. Many/most non-native fruits produced by invasive or otherwise (typically) less than desirable vegetation have a considerably lower nutritional value than native vegetation, for whatever reason.  This has the potential to and has resulted in decreased vigor in native song bird populations. I'm not saying don't use them, but be aware of what the results can be if there is too much in your chickens diet. We all like ice cream, but if we eat too much of it.....

 Toxicity
Potentially toxic
Irritant to skin or eyes
Respiratory irritant
Symptoms
Ingestion of berries may result in abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Contact with berries or leaves may cause dermatitis or eye irritation. The flower perfume may cause respiratory irritation.

From the Queensland poisons information centre. And there are other sites saying basically harmless.  I wish people would make up their mind

The real baddie which many people have in their gardens is Oleander. But that's probably for another thread.

Not to muddy the waters any more, but "here's mud in your eye". Specifically, the question was in reference to chickens, aka birds, which is what I was responding to. I do not know the effects of the berries on other animals, including humans.  Different animals respond very differently to some things they ingest and very similarly to others.

Mark Reynolds wrote:I would research the privet berries further. They are not toxic and can be fed. What you may want to be a bit cautious about is their nutritional value. Many/most non-native fruits produced by invasive or otherwise (typically) less than desirable vegetation have a considerably lower nutritional value than native vegetation, for whatever reason.  This has the potential to and has resulted in decreased vigor in native song bird populations. I'm not saying don't use them, but be aware of what the results can be if there is too much in your chickens diet. We all like ice cream, but if we eat too much of it.....

Definitely. The Tree Crops book had a nutritional profile of the berries from a chemist but all I remember was it very low in protein.

I'm hoping it will serve my birds an easy source of carbs/energy and interest for them. For protein, fats and vitamins/minerals,  I've got a bunch of other crops in the ground or on paper for next year for a diverse set of foods to meet their winter needs.

Are you still feeding the berries? How are they working out?

Josh Hoffman wrote:Are you still feeding the berries? How are they working out?

It's been great so far. They eat them like candy with no ill effects and it gives them something to scratch for in their otherwise barren late fall/winter run.

They are relatively easy to harvest - a lot of very heavy bearing branches lean low and you can squeeze them off the branch into buckets. They keep well.

Overall I'm pleased with it as a supplement. I could see Jerusalem artichokes and privet berries as major food sources for them in the winter.

Sam Shade wrote:

Josh Hoffman wrote:Are you still feeding the berries? How are they working out?

It's been great so far. They eat them like candy with no ill effects and it gives them something to scratch for in their otherwise barren late fall/winter run.

They are relatively easy to harvest - a lot of very heavy bearing branches lean low and you can squeeze them off the branch into buckets. They keep well.

Overall I'm pleased with it as a supplement. I could see Jerusalem artichokes and privet berries as major food sources for them in the winter.

Great to hear. I have privet anywhere I have not cleared and I saw all those beautiful berries and was thinking the same thing you did. Thanks for the update!