How to plant mint around your coop

3

325512

Guest
They say that you can keep rodents away by planting mint around your coop, and that chickens eat mint. So, how do you plant mint so that your chickens do not destroy the plants? Mint is perennial, and so if planted correctly, you will not need to plant it again. The mint needs to be planted around the coop, but what do you do to protect the plants from being destroyed by your chickens?
 
You could either plant in pots, then transplant, or grow in situ, but protect with chicken wire or whatever you have.
 
First make sure you want the mint and don't mind it spreading everywhere. It's a very invasive plant. Having grown a number of varieties, it's easy for me to believe that mint is the one plant that could stand up to chickens.

Secondly, while mint is a mild deterrent to rodents, chicken feed is a huge attractant to rodents. Do the math. You'll end up with mint that you can never get rid of and you'll still have rodents.
 
Has anyone tried planting mint in a chicken run? I'd like to grow some mint in my run but I know it spreads like crazy and I don't want to taking over everything and even spreading into the yard
 
Has anyone tried planting mint in a chicken run? I'd like to grow some mint in my run but I know it spreads like crazy and I don't want to taking over everything and even spreading into the yard

Believe me. Your chickens will prevent the mint from spreading. Chickens could kill out Kudzu.
 
Mints are great plants for ground cover! They come in different flavors and sizes, and do spread. This is a good thing! Your lawn mower will control overgrowth, if needed, it smells great (especially when mowed!) and comes up every year.
Rodents will show up anyway; that's what hardware cloth is for.
Other good plants are native shrubs, especially with edible berries. Viburnums! Look at what's available and hardy where you live, and non-toxic.
Catnip grows wild around my coop, apparently the chickens don't like it.
In sun and sandy soil, many herbs will do fine. Oregano spreads like mint!
Mary
 
Here mint has not done well, and catnip attracts cats! I killed that out here, I dont need anything that attracts predators! I luv mint and have tried for years to get it going, I now have some in a pot, we'll see how it goes and hope to spread it.
 
Some mints are much hardier than others; peppermint, apple mint, and ?spearmint? are good. Chocolate mint doesn't overwinter here either. Ask at the nursery, or look it up.
Catnip grows wild here, and there's so much of it everywhere, it's definitely not a cat attractant.
Mary
 
I have a lot of mint that I need to transplant. But there was a nest of rats living inside the mint bush. So I don't think it repels them.
 
Who knew? I can't believe that much of anything would repel rats for long, if there's a possible meal to be had.
Mints are nice to have out there anyway, and at least my birds don't eat them to the ground, like some other plants I've tried.
Mary
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom