Glad there are others out there doing this and i thought i was crazy.
I actually plant garlic around in the beds and next to pens, what leaves poke through i find do not last long ( once they start pecking at it ), when you use rosemary in the nest boxes, just make sure that there is not contact with the eggs if fresh,( i have done this before and works i beleive) finly chop the rose mary and put around the base of the nest boxes under straw/wood shavings. i even throw some around the perimtere in the coops ocassionsaly. remeber rosemary has a lot of oily sap. what ihave done in past is pre heat oven 125 and dry it out as well on cookie sheet and crumble it to in the nest boxes.
Garlic also keep the ground clear of some insects( any type of grubs )
i'll try the mint idea and see how it works, although i do not have a rat problem, ocassionaly i'll i have a mice problem - i have ment eveywhere except for the larger shed area where i have that problem at times.,
Dale
www.dalescoop.com
