Keeping your hens healthy is such an important part of your food security strategy. And who doesn’t love fresh eggs!
There are lots of natural methods you can use to keep ensure you have healthy chickens. One of the ways I use is to plant a garden alongside their yard, within pecking reach, but on the other side of the fence. That way they can self-serve the herbs and plants that support their health, without them being able to scratch or destroy the plants.
Here’s my top 5 plants or keeping your chooks and their yard healthy:
Sage (Salvia officinalis) – a beautiful drought hardy perennial which has flowers ranging from white, pink and purple. it is great for their general health and well being as well as providing forage for your local bee population.
Sage has a lovely aroma which can help disguise the sometimes smelly chook yard (particularly in winter when the ground remains wet) and can be used as a natural cleaning agent and pesticide
Sage contains Vitamin K, Iron, Vitamin B6, Calcium (good for strong shells) and Manganese and it is loaded with anti-oxidants. Not only are these good for the chooks they are good for you so you will be getting these through their eggs and you can use sage leaves in your cooking – chop them into a bolognaise sauce, combine them with butter to make sage butter (delicious with grilled pork chops, added to an omelette or sprinkled over roasted vegetables.
Geraniums (Pelagonium) species are hardy and will generally survive on rain and a little supplementary watering in the dry season.
They will flower and feed the bees as well as having a great smell, help balance their hormones and provide antiseptic qualities as well.
Geraniums range in colour from white, pink to red and true pelagoniums have a small more delicate flower but are just as hardy and even more pungent (in a good way). I like to plant them around my chook hard because they flower almost continuously and provide beautiful colour too.
Fennel ( Foeniculum vulgare ) is great for chooks – it supports their reproductive health and lets face it – it’s all about the eggs for me! The also provide fiber, potassium, folate, vitamin C, vitamin B-6, and a high phytonutrient content.
If you plant it near their yard you can easily chop some up and add it to their laying boxes or add shaved fennel to their feed. Fennel doesn’t always play nicely with others and is a weed is some areas so you will need to put it somewhere it can be the shining star and be controlled.
It also has a lovely scent when you brush past it if you like the smell of aniseed.
Tansy (Chrysanthemum vulgare. Syn Tanecetum vulgare) is a perennial herb which also survives on very little water. It helps keep flies and other pests at bay (they are attracted to all that chicken poo). They have a lovely yellow button flower in clusters at the top of the stems.
Tansy is not used much these days medicinally because of its toxicity. Traditionally it was used against threadworms, roundworms and tapeworms.
Tansy is used as a fly repellent and is a useful companion plant in the garden or near fruit trees to deter insects. It also attracts helpful bugs like ladybirds!
Sprinkle leaves of tansy into your compost piles or compost bin to help the decomposition process.
Thyme which promotes respiratory health, acts as an antioxidant, has antibacterial properties, and helps control parasites.
I also planted perlagonium because it smells really nice and will hopefully help to mask any chicken poo smells which might arise. I also inter-planted a few iris bulbs, simply because I have plenty, gifted to me from my mother-in-law and they will provide spots of colour and delight in spring.
Of course I was duly supervised by the beneficiaries of my gardening efforts – the chickens …
It always an act of hope and faith, planting a new garden, not only for the benefit of the humans that pass by and through it, but for the chickens on the other side of the wire.
