Are you looking to spice up your chicken’s meals?
If you raise backyard chickens chances are you love to spoil them but did you know your “spoiling” of your flock can actually be beneficial to their health?
Adding small amounts of certain herbs and spices is a great way to boost your chickens’ overall health, see below what herbs and spices will boost your chickens health below!
- Basil- Immune support, repels pests and increases health of mucosal membranes.
- Cayenne pepper- improves blood circulation.
- Cinnamon- aids in respiratory health.
- Garlic- boosts immune system, aids in respiratory health and is thought to repel mites, lice, and ticks. Feed in very small quantities or it can make eggs taste like garlic.
- Ginger- promotes feather growth and increases antioxidants in diet.
- Oregano- strengthens immune system and wards off internal parasites.
- Red pepper flakes- can keep other animals away from food (chickens don’t taste spice), darker yolk, said to improve blood circulation but we just think they like it. It has been said to ward off worms.
- Rosemary- acts as a natural pain reliever and can aid with respiratory health.
- Sage- wards off internal parasites and acts as an antiseptic/antibiotic.
- Thyme- antibacterial properties and aids with respiratory health.
To feed herbs to your chickens, simply trim some fresh stems, tie them together and hang them for the chickens to peck at and devour. This method provides an activity for them, giving them something to do besides peck on each other.
You can also trim stems and leaves and dry them. store these dried herbs in jars and serve them up to your chickens during the winter so even then your flock can benefit from the health properties of homegrown herbs.
If you are a chicken owner currently you will already know that having any sort of garden/plants inside of your coop will never work, as they will just scratch the plants out and destroy anything pretty!
The best idea for planting a herb garden for your hens is to build planter boxes around the edge of the coop, this will deter insect and other animals away from the coop.
This way they are still close to the garden to get the benefits without being able to destroy it! win win for everyone!
Most Popular Herbs to plant for Chickens
- Mint
- Sage
- Thyme
- Lavender
- Rosemary
