Here in Northern CA we have a terrible problem with an introduced plant called Cape Oxalis--it looks like giant clover, shamrock or wood sorrel and has pretty yellow or pink flowers--but it takes over your yard and forms thousand of bulbs that make it immune to pulling. I have a huge patch in my side yard and suddenly thought that maybe the chickens could help control it. But then I worried because it is high in oxalic acid (though so are spinach and sorrel) which can interfere with nutrient absorption. Anyway---I wondered if anyone knew if it could be harmful?
I did find several sites where people were using it to control the plant--and not only in Northern CA, but New Zealand too! Here are two:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/14/HOG5OOJF8G1.DTL
http://www.eplants.co.nz/what_to_do/wally/Newsletters/2007/Wally_may5_07.htm
Chickens and Oxalis
Referencing the reference thread (flog!!) :
http://www.chickenkeepingsecrets.com/members/archives/112
oxalis is on the toxic to chickens list...
I have that blasted oxalis also.
Ouch! Stop it grownut!
I am so sorry, wren...it is the biggest pain. I think it may have been introduced by the nursery trade.
I find myself somewhat dubious about the toxic plant lists....I suspect a lot of things may not be good in excess...but a lot of them turn out to be perfectly fine in lower amounts. Remember when everyone was terrified by poinsettias? Now, it's like--well they can be irritating. Or onions and dogs....I doubt that there has been a dog that has not ingested a fair amount of onion in its day...and not been any the worse for it. Now large amounts of onion may be a different matter. I mean, they were kinda warning people that spinach with it's oxalic acid content would interfere with iron absorption--but now its EAT IT, IT'S GOOD FOR YOU.
Sigh...and I do so want to get rid of the oxalis. The chickens have even managed to destroy my bermuda grass, so I know they would do a good job.
Seems like that other lady in one of those threads used chickens and didn't have a problem... I agree with you Catscan, it's probably dosage dependent. I think I'd give it a try, not use young growing birds, but older non-layers and just see.
If it works can I borrow a few chickens.
In the Birds and Blooms magazine some one once wanted some. I almost boxed her up a huge box of the stuff.
Seems to me most of them have the sense not to eat what makes them sick anyway. If they don't eat it they should at least terrorize it into submission. Or to a point where it can be dug out.
:0)
Okay--result of first test: Chickens really like oxalis....they slurp up the stems like spaghetti. I only gave them a couple handfuls--but with nothing else green in the garden right now, it was gone in seconds.
Waiting with bait-breath (ok, bated) the results of stage two...
Un bait your breath (anchovies, was it?)....18 hours later, and the chickens still live. No sign of distress of any kind.
Next stage of research---small amounts given every other day. This is just the top growth...the bulbs are what I really need eradicated...and if the chickens do well with the tops now and then....I will chicken tractor them, a few at a time and in rotation, over the offending area.
Garlic-anchovy pasta. Last night. {{well -does lying for dramatic affect count??}}
When I was a kid I ate it like crazy.. We called it Sour Grass..
It is a pain to get rid of.. but nice to munch on! Didn't hurt me.. I wish something would have stunted my growth as a child.. LOL
A blacker blackness emerges from the shadow....can it be? But no! Yes! The Vocabularian strikes!
Dramatic "affect"--is that where you feign an emotion you do not really feel? In front of the court, I try to go for the most effective affect for the occasion...but in most cases it is flat:0)
(Looking nervously over my shoulder for the Grammarian or Spelling Authority)
Psst! Any one want some lovely Oxalis bulbs?
ZZ--can I interest you in several bushellfuls of lovely sour grass?
That's exactly what I was thinking Cats. I'm always effecting affects and looking over my shoulder....neither satisfies, somehow...
If one is texting affects for effects, would that be iffects?
It is only iffects if one is not sure of their ability to effect the affect.
Or one's fingers are too large to hit all the little texting buttons accurately.....
This message was edited Mar 8, 2009 1:23 PM
So it should be i-fect, yes?
Now, if one's i-fect causes someone to laugh, would that be infect?
LOL
This message was edited Mar 8, 2009 11:26 AM
In-fect, I am not sure.
Purrr-fect. =)
Bleagh! Here it is:
1. If you are talking about a result, then use the word "effect."
* Example: What effect did the loss have on the team?
2. It is appropriate to use the word "effect" if one of these words is used immediately before the word: into, no, take, the, any, an, or and.
* Example: The prescribed medication had no effect on the patient's symptoms.
* Example: In analyzing a situation, it is important to take the concepts of cause and effect into consideration.
3. If you want to describe something that was caused or brought about, the right word to use is effect.
* Example: The new manager effected some positive changes in the office. (This means that the new manager caused some positive changes to take place in the office.)
4. Affect can be used as a noun to describe facial expression.
* Example: The young man with schizophrenia had a flat affect.
* Example: The woman took the news of her husband's sudden death with little affect.
5. Affect can also be used as a verb. Use it when trying to describe influencing someone or something rather than causing it.
* Example: How does the crime rate affect hiring levels by local police forces?
* Example: The weather conditions will affect the number of people who come to the county fair this year.
I was employing #4, using it instead of #1. The effect was traumatic...
What??? No wonder I never did good in English grammar classes.
Heh. I grew up with grammarians and never had to think about it but this one ALWAYS bugs me. Goes both ways, in many instances, depending on your intent...
Do keep us posted on the long term effects of oxalis on the affected chickens.
I can envision a new landscaping service: "Chickens R Us" - for a reasonable fee, we'll bring over a chicken tractor to rid your lawn/garden of the dreaded oxalis and fertilize your garden". We have several "Goats R Us" businesses for poison oak and other brush eradication. Why not chickens for oxalis?
Brilliant! garden_mermaid! I hadn't thought of that, although I had considered the goat thing. There is a woman in Sacramento who clears vacant city lots with goats she brings in.
Wren...no wonder you never did WELL in English grammar classes. Sigh. ;-)
Catscan, the spelling authority has pronounced you clean of error.
Oxalis....I planted a whole bunch of bulbs here but they won't make it year to year unless I dig them up. They die off in zone 5, so no problems here. They make a pretty carpet if I plant enough of them. Of course, with global climate change, this could all be quite different in a few years!
Oh, and my big pet peeve in grammar...."for free." There is no such thing as "for free." It is free, so it is not "for" anything.
I bought this egg for 25 cents (compared to) I bought this egg for free.
NO you didn't! First of all, you didn't buy it. Second, it was just free, not for free. So it should have been "This egg was free" or "I was given this free egg."
{{barnyard fairy flaps wings and stomps about a bit, to no great effect}}
"for free" is a substitute for the phrase "for nothing". "Free" sounds better than "nothing", so it's a bit of upsell in the vernacular.
It did not help matters that I had a couple of teachers who had worse accents than I do. Have you every heard a native Texan pronounce "nor" and "or" came out "nar" and "ar"
I had some really strange teachers in other subject also.
Wren, it's a wonder you learned anything at all in that case!
I manage except in geometry- the teacher would do all the problems wrong. Only those who could understand the book past. I was very good in science.
Catscan - when would you like me to deliver your goats?!
Wren....ugh....geometry....nearly as bad as trigonometry. I was awful at that.
So Moxon, how do you feel about "got"? It was brought to my attention while living in Britain that the American use of "got" is no longer practiced there. It is an Elizabethan hang over. So while I might, in a careless New World sort of way, say: "I've got to go now"; my cringing United Kingdom cousin would announce: "I must go now" or "I have to go now".
Then there is the whole ghastly will/shall issue. I can on occasions catch the spirit of the thing....but it comes and goes at some will other than my own.
"I will go to the store." Somehow expressing an iron-clad moral determination to go despite all opposition (or is it merely a statement of inevitable fact?), versus: "I shall go to the store," expressing nothing more than the casual personal intention to do so. Is that right? But then what about that most determined of all English retorts: "Shan't!"?
Surely as a Canadian with English roots you can mediate, educate and reform our tattered use of the Mother Tongue?
eh?
Catscan - you will notice in my no-cost egg example, I did not give "I got this egg free" as an example of a good thing to say. Why? Because indeed, I dislike the use of "got" in general. I do use it in some circumstances, like you, especially in sentences like "She got hurt when the piano fell on her head" but I really should say "She was hurt..." On the other hand, I use "get" all the time, because it would sound pretentious to say "Where did you obtain that free egg?"
I am a big user of shall. I think it is a lovely word and it rolls off the tongue nicely. I also think that you can pretend, in your mind, that "I'll" is actually a contraction of "I shall" instead of "I will." I don't often use "shan't" but I do use "I shall not" especially when I am feeling indignant. I feel that "shall" is a more gentle word, and I often use it when asking somebody something, such as "Shall we go to the store now?" instead of a more pedestrian "Are we going to the store now?" because it implies a choice on the other person's part that I think gets lost otherwise. I think that "will" is certainly stronger than "shall" but I would not say that "shall" is entirely casual. For example, if I said to you "I shall order those hatching eggs at once!" it is not reflecting any casual thought.
Ah language....'tis a lovely thing. I have been writing a paper on the environmental regulation of agriculture all day, so I've been choosing words carefully today.
Man I wonder how the English would shutter if they hear my country cousins talk. "He aint going to do it any how." I's going to have a mass of peas. Y'all came back you hear! She plays the Pieano (spelling is correct for the piano) right good. And I could go on for ever.
Watch , Masterpiece Theatre, Dr.Who or EastEnders sometime and you'll see that the England has many regional and class dialects that some of our US dialects sound like the Queen's English by comparison. I shared a taxi from the London airport once and had to keep asking the couple (from a town in northern England) to speak very slowly to understand them. I'm usually very good at understanding accented English, but their dialect had me working very hard.
Good night Y'all I am going to "hit" the "sack".
Have a nice time at the "Feather Ball".
I decided years ago to use all forms. With malice aforethought. Have an ongoing argument of several years' standing about dangling prepositions with li'l bro.