Fresh and dried herbs have amazing health and well-being benefits...and also provide a bit of aromatherapy for your chickens.
 

Freshly laid eggs in a nesting box full of herbs 

My coop never smelled so good until I started adding an herbal blend that includes mint, basil, lemon balm, lavender and rose petals in the nesting boxes.  The first time I put the herbs into the nesting baskets, one of my hens actually fell asleep after laying her egg. Now that's one relaxed hen !

Buff Grace sitting in the nesting box 

Fresh or dried herbs in your nesting boxes not only work as insecticides, but also have anti-bacterial properties, and can act as natural wormers, anti-parasitics, insecticides, rodent control, stress relievers and laying stimulants.  They will help a laying hen feel safe and relaxed while she is sitting, and calm a broody hen, as well as repel rodents, flies and other parasites. Plus they look so pretty !

Nesting boxes filled with fresh herbs 

They will also benefit newly hatched chicks.  Research has shown that wild birds will line their nests with fresh herbs and flowers, especially those that contain essential oils. The newly hatched baby birds benefit by rubbing against these herbs in the first few days of life.  Same applies to baby chicks. The chicks will also eat some of the herbs, thereby garnering even more health benefits from them.

Baby chick in a nesting box filled with herbs 

Here is a partial list of common herbs and flowers and their beneficial properties:

Basil - antibacterial, mucus membrane health
Catnip - sedative, insecticide
Cilantro - antioxidant, fungicide, builds strong bones, high in Vitamin A for vision and Vitamin K for blood clotting
Dill - antioxidant, relaxant, respiratory health
Fennel -laying stimulant
Garlic - laying stimulant
Lavender - stress reliever, increases blood circulation, highly aromatic, insecticide
Lemon Balm - stress reliever, antibacterial, highly aromatic, rodent repellent
Marigold - laying stimulant
Marjoram - lay stimulant
Mint (all kinds) - insecticide and rodent repellent
Nasturtium - laying stimulant, antiseptic, antibiotic, insecticide, wormer
Oregano - combats coccidia, salmonella, infectious bronchitis, avian flu, blackhead and e-coli
Parsley - high in vitamins, aids in blood vessel development, laying stimulant
Peppermint - anti-parasitic, insecticide
Pineapple Sage - aids nervous system, highly aromatic
Rose Petals - highly aromatic, high in Vitamin C
Rosemary - pain relief, respiratory health, insecticide
Sage - antioxidant, anti-parasitic
Spearmint - antiseptic, insecticide, stimulates nerve, brain and blood functions
Tarragon - antioxidant
Thyme - respiratory health, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-parasitic

Basket of freshly cut herbs 

Toss a few handfuls of mixed cut herbs into your nesting boxes and refresh them as needed.  Your chickens will benefit from them and you will enjoy how nice your coop smells.  

Mint and herbs in the garden 

I plant various different types of herbs each spring because of their many uses. In addition to using the herbs for teas and in the nesting boxes, I also enjoy cooking with fresh herbs.

Fresh basil growing in the garden 

There's nothing like going out to the garden and picking a handful of fresh basil for pesto, oregano for homemade pizza or mint to garnish a slice of cheesecake.

 Freshly cut herbs from the garden 

Herbs are easy to grow, do well in most areas of the country and can even be grown on your kitchen windowsill in the winter.

Jars full of dried herbs 

I also dry excess herbs at the end of the summer to use in the nesting boxes during the winter.

I hope this has given you some ideas for raising happy, healthy hens....Happy Growing !

Watering nasturtium flowers in the garden 

Basil and tomato is probably the most well-known herb-vegetable combination, but don’t make short shrift of this herb. It works well with most any vegetable, and it even makes a nice tea.

USES. The entire plant is used, with the seeds, leaves, and flowers employed most often. The fresh or dried leaves are essential ingredients in tomato-based sauces and as a seasoning for vegetables, meats, and stuffings. A tea made from the leaves produces a warm, restorative feeling; itchy insect bites can be soothed by rubbing fresh leaves over the skin. Basil is said to aid digestion, relax cramps and muscle aches, and reduce fevers. In companion plantings, such as with tomatoes and peppers, it helps repel aphids.

PRESERVE FOR LATER. Fresh basil should not be placed in the refrigerator but rather in water on a windowsill. To dry basil, harvest clean, dry leaves (don’t wash the leaves); tie in small bunches and hang upside down in a warm, dark place for 2 to 4 weeks. Alternatively, you could spread the leaves in a single layer on a cookie sheet and dry them in the oven on the lowest possible temperature for a few days. You could also freeze basil, although the leaves will turn black.

PART OF PLANT USED: Entire plant

CULINARY COMPANIONS: Garlic, onion, peppers, tomatoes

USE TIP: Add fresh basil at the end of cooking for best flavor.

Excerpted from The Beginner's Guide to Edible Herbs with permission from Storey Publishing (c) 2010. Photography (c) by Saxon Holt. 

After a long week at work I was ready to get out and join Pan Saturday morning for some garden work. The weather looked to be promising and we had days ago decided to give up on the old adage about waiting till after Good Friday to plant or whatever that colloquialism is.

We started out with a trip to the Plant Emporium in Griffin, Georgia. Not too much there as they haven't fully recovered from the winter and prepared for the spring. Further down the road though we fell into the arms of our bittersweet lover, Lowe's. While we aren't a huge fan of box stores or giving our money to large, corporate entities who hire folks poorly versed in horticulture and gardening, we were growing desperate watching the sun beat down on our Buggy Town.

A little over $100 later we emerged with seed packets galore (based on our garden plot, of course) including crookneck squash, butter beans, pole beans, lettuce, beets, and onions, 8 tomato sprouts, 6 different herbs as well as herb seeds (for a nice, thick, rotating harvest), some organic plant food, a little topsoil for the herb garden and an odd or end or two.

After arriving home we realized it was almost 12pm and we hadn't done much of anything. Pan quickly made a plan of attack and we headed for the herb boxes. Now, I am a huge fan of Black Kow so we emptied our two bags of the soil into the newest bed and arranged our newly purchased herbs into what we knew would become a staple of our dinner planning routine.

Pan laid out the thyme, greek oregano, parsley, lavender, basil and other assorted tinctures. We dug our holes, put them in, salted them down with plant food, and stood back for a second to admire the box.

We then moved on to our raised beds where we took stock of the onions that were already growing rapidly. At almost 4 inches tall each they had certainly become a reminder of what we enjoyed so much last year and were anticipating this year.

I had bought a few annuals earlier in the morning as well so I could build a sort of "garden gate" for any deer or dogs that may want to take a turn at our onions and peppers. After I fished them each out of their little square packaging and laid them in I have to admit they looked rather pitiful, and I began to doubt they would do little more than blossom and die. I guess I now kind of view them as the meteors of our garden – pretty to see but quick to burn out. Oh well. At 94 cents for a 6-pack I hadn't lost much on my $4 investment.

By 3 pm the temp had risen to a warm 71 degrees and we weren’t even half done. We had 10 empty 5-gallon buckets and as many tomato plants staring at us from across the yard. Although we are cultivating some tomato seeds we did decided to get 3 plants each of varying stages (and an odd one) so we would have a better rotating harvest. We'll see how that works out

One thing I am a stickler of is our reuse of materials. I hate buying things when we have objects around the house/yard that can be used. For a few weeks now we have been scavenging and cleaning/sanitizing 5-gallon buckets for use as planters. I knew I wanted to try planting all the tomatoes in planters this year rather than a bed. To achieve our desired effect we filled the bucket with our sifted soil and drilled four drainage holes in the 'four corners' of each bucket about two inches from the bottom. No sense in rotting the roots of perfectly good plants. We then dug our holes, plugged them with beautiful tomato trunks and strengthened them with stakes made from bamboo harvested off the side of Highway 36. (It's our tax dollars, right?) They came out quite nice.

It was at this point that I asked Pan if we could take a break. We had already missed lunch, and with my neck turning even more red than it was naturally (by heritage, of course) I had to enjoy a cool one. Afterall, it was Saturday!

(…stay tuned for our 3rd part to this seemingly endless Saturday. We still have the main garden to go!)