My chickens have always gotten alfalfa to scratch around in and love the leaves. It makes their egg yolks so orange.
I think I'll just not tell them I've been "poisoning" them!
I used to go-on-and-on over "poultryhelp." Made jokes about the source for one of their lists (Reptile Keeper's Handbook) - Even complained about the outfit having been out of the chicken business for years and years.
These days, I am a little more mellow about the website but I wish they'd just put the link on their site and let us find and evaluate the information for ourselves! Here is what their source for this list, the University of Illinois, actually says about alfalfa, for example: "Alfalfa is an excellent forage crop when harvested and stored properly. However, the plant can cause 'hepatogenous photosensitivity syndrome' if water-damaged (Monlux AW . J Am Vet Med Assoc, Vol. 142, 9, p. 989-994, 1963)."
Aww, hey Steve, don't be grumpy! Soon the sun will be shining, the days will be long, the dirt will be dirty again, we'll all be so busy we won't remember what it's like to have so much time to think about this stuff! :coolsun
And I would never feed a chicken hay that I wouldn't give to my favorite horse.
My chickens used to range at will over 40 acres. Some of the plants that grew wild there were definitely poisonous (such as datura and careless weed) but they just didn't eat them. Perhaps if they were the only greens available they would have been tempted.