Plump chicken and fresh curry bush goes perfectly together, for the first couple of pecks. After that your curry bush doesn't stand a chance! At least not if the hens are as enthusiastic about herb gardens as mine are! For those of you giving my post the beady eye - relax - my four legged and feathered kids would never tolerate being put in a pot!
Years ago I thought it would be helpful to plant chicken gardens with both veggies and herbs. The idea being that the harem of hens would have access through a relatively secure fence. That way the main plant and tender growth would be protected while the hens feasted through the fence on the green growth.
There were a number of reasons for this. My main reason was that they would have a diversity of flavours as well as the goodness of different herbs. A close second reason was that the chickens (in theory) would deworm themselves on some of the herbs. I was totally blown away at just how well that worked! They l.o.v.e pecking the seeds off wormwood. Lastly we need to control critters that love eating chickens. We have a wild bird problem. Wild birds bring mites. Plenty of them!
In the recent years the battle against those blood sucking mites is escalating. As part of my natural treatment I regularly chop either garlic or aloe ferrox into their water. Aloe ferrox is an amazing plant, with healing and deworming properties - added to which it grows prolifically in our area. We've now resorted to building a second safe area for the chickens. It is in a garden we recently harvested of onion. I refrained from transplanting the rue and curry bush as I had serious doubts that it would tempt a chickens taste buds. I was clearly wrong!
We have also built a second chicken coop. The young hens began laying before we could finish and we had to make a plan with the nests as they were dropping them under that curry bush! My little egg gathering farm children are always excited by eggs. Today we were rather perplexed at the size of the one. A double yolker. Having giving birth to two children I can only imagine how that poor hen pushed that monster egg out.
Fellow homesteaders will relate to using all sorts of containers for all sorts of projects. We have a number of big drums (recycled from the commercial cheese factory). One has been halved and filled with diatomaceous earth and wood ash for their glorified sand baths. We also have white bottles (recycled from the commercial dairy). We store ... ummmm .... anything and everything in the bottles. We cut three of them in half today and have used them as nests.
We built the usual wooden nesting boxes, this time with a front and back flap. (What is it about a chicken that likes to use their nest as a glorified ablution facility?) To make cleaning easy(er) we have filled the halved bottles with lucerne (alfalfa) bale (Shhhhhhh don't tell the goats their winter snacks are now under a chicken bum)
To help in our fight against those nasty mites I chopped up a lot of herbs to top off the nest bedding. I love the aroma of freshly cut herbs.
Today it was wormwood, lavender and rosemary. It smells delicious and those feathered ladies should be strutting their aromatic stuff for the rooster soon.
Today was a really successful day on the homefront. We finished our last minute pre-freeze planting. With winter fast approaching it is good to know that the little veggies seedlings are in the kitchen garden and protected from the coming frost. And all the animals will be safe and warm. Here's to a bumper crop of organic eggs from my herb loving hens.
If not. Curried chicken sounds like rather a tasty dish.....
Thank you so much @ewkaw and @qurator
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Chickens, and many animals, are very adept at selecting the plants that carry whatever properties they need for health that day. That's why I include a mix of herbs in the daily feed during winter when they don't have access to them. Southernwood, wormwood, and tansy are all good for worming properties and one of these is always in the current mix.
Regarding mites, I've put the DE on the walls and floor of the nestboxes, and along the roosts. I make a mix of DE, LEACHED wood ashes, and soil for dustbathing. I've never had mites. I use LEACHED (ashes that have had water passed through them) because it the ashes get wet, they can burn skin and feathers. I've taken the tips off my fingers working wet unleached ashes.
Thank you @goldenoakfarm! Do you make leached ash yourself? I have never heard of that in our farming community. Although it would probably have another name (most likely Afrikaans). The chicken area is so big, that it takes a lot of DE and a lot of time.
It's not hard. I simply pile the wood ash from the wood stoves outside all winter, and then sift it in summer after it's sat in the rain for months. Then I store it in a dry place. It's not something you can buy.
My chicken pen is 800 sq. ft. and it does take a bit of time to spread it. Mostly I put it where they dust bathe the most, and in the nest boxes. I would not put the wood ash in the nest boxes, just the DE.
Thank you @goldenoakfarm!
Thats fantastic. I just put wormwood in my nesting boxes buy didnt think of lavender!!!! Great idea.
The combined aroma is surprisingly pleasant
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I stepped in thinking I was getting to get some recipe for chicken curry
But I have to say I loved this more :D
That egg is so big...
Thank you @kaerpediem! I'll have to do a real curried chicken recipe now. I have one. It's delicious. And excludes all the pet hens
I shall watch out for it ;D
I like the way you made the nest boxes.
The poor chicken that laid that huge egg...
I know! Ouch
Really brilliant! This egg was indeed, massive! I will steal your idea of containers for the laying boxes, I have an issue with the rooster eating the eggs, I've heard that filling one egg with mustard or soap and living it there, is a good way to dissuade him to eat the eggs.
Cheers!
The rooster?!!! That's terrible. We've had hens eating eggs. We've never cured them - except to make them into a roast! Thank you for the compliment @edprivat but you're welcome to the idea. Make a post about it.
Well, the only solution is to get the eggs before the rooster. Next stop, the cooking pot!!!
Love the color and size - We never will get it outside.
They are really big @sanjeevm!
I have wormwood and rue next to my runs, but each next to a different one. I've been meaning to do more, though.
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Thank you very much!
Those eggs in that herb nest are SO BEAUTIFUL! I really need to step up my herb-growing game. 😆
Picture perfect! Now to convince those silly hens to leave them in instead of redistribute them all over the floor
I wish I was as adept at raising herbs as I am with chickens. I would love to do what you are doing to give the chickens the dietary variety and protection from parasites.
One of my chickens once laid an egg like that. It isn't uncommon for young hens just starting out to occasionally lay double-yolkers, but in that particular case I had to wonder which of my poor hens was laying ostrich eggs. Ouch! That had to hurt!
Why not try planting a few herbs in pots for your chickens @eternaldreamer? That's how I started many years ago. And it ultimately exploded to gardens full of herbs
Good idea. I do have some pots hanging around and I may try that. Thanks!