Lilies are a lovely plant to have on your property, these plants come in a variety of colors including red, orange, white, yellow, and even maroon with spotted petals. Unfortunately, these flowers aren’t the best to have around your pets.

Regardless of how beautiful these flowers are, the risk of them potentially poisoning your chicken is not worth having them on your property. But are tiger lilies dangerous to birds? Can chickens eat tiger lilies? This article explores this topic 

Chickens, and other household pets, cannot eat tiger lilies. Eating this plant can cause severe irritation in the bird’s mouth and digestive tract. If you think that your bird has eaten some tiger lilies it is important to have your bird seen by a vet as soon as possible. 

Can chickens eat tiger lilies?

Risks of giving chickens tiger lilies:

Tiger lilies can’t be given to pets like dogs or cats, this plant can cause death in these animals after only being fed as little as two leaves. Also, the plant should not be given to chickens. Tiger lilies, and lilies of any kind for that matter, should not be given to birds at all.

Tiger lilies can cause severe irritation in your bird’s mouth and digestive tract if ingested. It would be best to remove these flowers from your garden if your bird is getting too curious about them 

Chickens will likley avoid tiger lillies

Chickens are foraging birds, they generally inspect their food before deciding to eat it. This means they will taste a bit of the food before eating and assess whether it’s edible, they won’t eat something if they realize that it isn’t edible, this keeps them from eating enough to kill them.

Your bird will likely do this with your tiger lilies. If the adult chicken is raising a baby chicken, then the adult chicken will teach the younger bird what to stay away from. 

However, if you as a chicken owner, offer the birds something to eat (such as a tiger lily), the excitement of being fed by you will override their natural wiring to assess the food before eating.

Your chickens know you as something that offers them tasty food, because of this, they will simply assume that everything you give them is good.

Exceptions to the rule:

Your chickens will only likely eat foods that are bad for them if they feel that they have no other choice. If your chickens only have access to a small bare run, with nowhere else to forage and eat, then the birds will likely try to eat your tiger lilies.

These lilies will only become a viable food option if there is nothing else around. To avoid this, you need to give your birds access to a pasture that offers lots of foods to eat. 

When to take your bird to a vet:

If you’re worried that your bird has ingested some tiger lilies, take your bird to a vet as room as possible. If your bird is covered by pet insurance, its plant toxicity treatment should be covered by the policy.

You can also call the pet poison helpline, this is a 24-hour helpline that can connect you to an animal poison expert who can help you 

How to keep your tiger lilies from chickens 

If your chickens are still curious about this plant, and try to eat it, and if you don’t want to uproot your tiger lilies, then you may need to protect the plant from the chickens in order to keep each safe, here are ways to do so: 

Chicken repellent herbs:

There are a few herbs that chickens don’t like, if you plant herbs that chickens find offensive around your tiger lilies, then the chickens won’t go near them. Herbs and plants that chickens don’t like include marigolds, catnip, spearmint, lavender, and chives

Essential oils:

These work to deter chickens from your garden just as herbs would, this solution is also simpler and will be immediately effective.

To do this, sprinkle some essential oils around your tiger lilies, chickens will surely keep away. You can use oils like spearmint or peppermint oil for this solution, remember to reapply the oil as often as needed.

When doing this, remember not to sprinkle the oils directly on the lily as the oil can burn the plant. 

Fencing:

This is a foolproof and permanent way to keep your chickens away from your tiger lilies. Fencing allows chickens to roam around all day and simultaneously keeps them away from the lilies. This method will be effective in the short and long term

Conclusion

In conclusion, no, chickens cannot eat tiger lilies, this flower can cause irritation in the bird’s mouth and digestive tract.

Thankfully, the birds will likely keep away from this plant, if they don’t, you can fence the area off, use essential oils in the area or plant chicken repellent plants in the area. 

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Can chickens eat turkey feed?, Can chickens eat turkey?, Can chickens eat runner beans?, Can chickens eat rockmelon?,