Hi all,
Fed my girls a big lettuce yesterday afternoon from a friends allotment and today Molly looks very fed up. Standing in the corner, tail down, looking sleepy. She did this when she had too many grass clippings and we haven't given them grass clippings since.
Could lettuce have effected her system? I have read it can cause 'the runs' and may also cause a degree of drowsiness. Has anyone else exprienced these sort of effects from too much lettuce??
Thanks

I feed mine left over salad on a regular basis and it doesnt seem to affect them, but I have heard that on a human level, lettuce is an aid to relaxation. Not sure if it would have the same effect on a chicken though. Hopefully there wasnt anythig on the lettuce you didnt know about.
Maybe some chooks dont get on well with certain types of food, just like us.
Mine also have grass cuttings occasionally with no ill effects.
lorna

I was told NOT to feed too much lettuce.

Mine have it sometimes, but not a lot, we or the parrots have it.
Grass cuttings no problem whatsoever.
Wendy

..and some hens, like my Maggie, simply *stuff* themselves...

LynneP wrote: ..and some hens, like my Maggie, simply *stuff* themselves...

Mine too

She hasn't got sour crop from over eating, has she?
Hope not!!!

Hi everyone,
sure i read in the tale of peter rabbit that lettuce has a soporific effect on rabbits, ao i assume it would be the same for chooks?
i never give mine very much of it because i just assumed it be the same, but i dont know if the tale was just that?
bernadette x

bernadette wrote: Hi everyone,
sure i read in the tale of peter rabbit that lettuce has a soporific effect on rabbits, ao i assume it would be the same for chooks?
i never give mine very much of it because i just assumed it be the same, but i dont know if the tale was just that?
bernadette x

I was just going to quote Beatrix Potter too!!!

bernadette wrote: Hi everyone,
sure i read in the tale of peter rabbit that lettuce has a soporific effect on rabbits, ao i assume it would be the same for chooks?
i never give mine very much of it because i just assumed it be the same, but i dont know if the tale was just that?
bernadette x

Bernadette, I was going to say exactly the same thing!!!

ha ha. glad i,m not the only one who reads childrens books!!
and 'dawncolin' how is molly today. i hope that was all that was wrong xx

Soporific rabbits eh? I must tell my friend as her rabbits are really fiesty!
I know lettuce before bed is supposed to aid sleep. I am not sure whether it works though, as it hasn't become a traditional bedtime nosh like cocoa, has it?

that's because it doesn't taste as nice lol

Hi all,
Molly spent a number of days looking really under the weather, pale and lethargic and she laid one soft shell egg. So we decided to give her a course of baytril which seems to be doing the trick. She is still quieter than normal but she is looking a lot brighter and her comb is turning pink at last.....the baytril has another 3 days to go.
Don't know if it was the lettuce overdose or not, but she seems to be picking up now anyway. We will not be giving them lettuce again just in case. Molly always stuffs herself with anything that she can get as long as its not pellets so they have been on a tough regime of boring old pellets, she is not impressed
Thanks for all the feedback, it is always so useful

Glad Molly is on the mend. whatever the cause.
lorna