If you were to walk around our chicken and goat pins, you would find all kinds of herbs growing. They not only help with a bit of fly control in the summer months, but we collect and dry them for not only teas and tisanes for us, but the animals as well.
Nettle, top of my list for a couple of reasons. Our chicks love dried nettle! It is a wonderful source for nutrients, containing essential minerals like iron, calcium and magnesium. Be sure to grow this in the “outback” safe away from brushing up against. Ours is right up against the coop, behind a little picket fence. It never gets very big or out of control because I am always harvesting it.
Red Clover is an excellent laying stimulant. While it’s great dried tossed in with the chicks daily ration of food, they love it fresh. I pick a couple of handfuls every night and toss around their bedding in the evening. It is also a good respiratory system helper and a nutrition powerhouse. Even the two week old babies are really enjoying this treat.
Peppermint smells great and helps repel pests and insects. Just like for us humans, it helps our chicks have a healthy digestive tract. However, we grow this in pots near the coop rather than let it get out of hand. This stuff is easy to grow, but sometimes not hard to control once it is established.
Calendula flowers are an anti-fungal and an anti-bacterial. So why wouldn’t you give your feathered friends a taste of these? Calendula can deepen the color of yolks. My girls like this best dried.
Comfrey leaf, one of the best healing herbs I know. It’s protein rich, and also helps with digestive issues.
Lavender Flower are aromatic and help reduce stress, improve blood circulation and it is an effective insecticide, including lice! And what’s prettier than a bunch of lavender plants growing around the yard and coop area?
Chamomile is gentle and calming. It’s another herb that is excellent for digestive systems, but it’s also good for growth. This is great for chicks!
Raspberry leaf can stimulate reproductive systems while providing a good source of nutrition. We have a raspberry patch not far away from the coop, and they love a fresh handful tossed in their mix.
Fennel is a super pest repellent. It’s helpful to the digestive and reproductive systems. It can increase appetite and egg laying. I plant fennel in my garden and let it go to seed. The bees love the blooms an then once totally dry I chop the seed heads off and toss the whole thing in the coop. They love picking off the seeds. I also save some for later in the year.
Rosemary is so easy to grow, it smells terrific and helps with respiratory health as well as being an effective insecticide. This can be picked year round because it’s an evergreen here.
Lemonbalm! This could get out of control if I didn’t feed it to the chickens and goats! Lemonbalm can help repel rodents, it’s an inti-inflammatory, and an anti-microbial herb. My chickens like it best dried, but they will eat it fresh when it’s flowering.
Thyme is an antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-parasitic. It’s another herb that helps with the digestive and respiratory systems.
All of these herbs are wonderful dried and mixed together to feed chickens every few days. I toss a handful in their feed and even a couple of tablespoons in each nesting box. If you don’t have the time or space to grow these herbs but still want to give them a try you can still buy organic herb mixes for laying chickens.
Out Standing In The Garden 