Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I know this is toxic to humans.
My chickens have eaten these berries for years and I haven’t noticed any ill effects but have recently been told I shouldn’t let them. Anybody have info? I see wild birds eating them so wasn’t concerned.

I am not familiar with this but does it have a seed inside the fruit. Reason I ask is that the Yew berry does. Sometimes we would get pheasants in for necropsy and we determined that if the yew seed was ground in the gizzard and enough was eaten the bird could be poisoned. Other times we would find birds with plenty of seeds but not ground up, dead from other reasons.

Very tiny seeds

They likely right on through but can't promise anything!

It's actually not terribly poisonous for people. Lots of people eat this berry (and like it!) with no ill effects, though I don't know why they would, it tastes godawful (tried it as a kid, thought it was red currant). I can't imagine it would be terribly good for man nor bird in large quantities, though, sort of like eating huge amounts of potato skins. Worst that would happen (to people) from eating this berry, is a bit of stomach upset if they ate more than a handful or two.

Thx ladies. In general I figure chickens know what's ok to eat and what's not. But that doesn't explain their cravings for styrofoam or insulation so....

, if they have enough food choices, they tend to leave the stuff that's not good for them alone. Or at least only eat it in moderate amounts.

yep technically they aren't poisonous (i ate enough when i was a kid at my grandpas-they had them growing along the driveway). They are bitter as heck!!!! and i only did it once....LOL. i'll let you guys all decide if there are dire long lasting bad effects that i just haven't recognized LOL.