Chickens and mint

[Texas Fluffy Feet]

I think I have the only chickens in the world who like mint. I helped a friend thin her mint yesterday and I brought the springs we pulled home. I thought since everyone said chickens didn't like mint I could plant it in the run and at least there would be something green growing in there. I planted at least 2 dozen hearty sprigs. Well, just a couple of hours later this was the scene:

 

[Portia]

LOL To get something going in the run you may need to give it a little protection until its established; try putting some chicken wire caps over the plants for a few weeks to limit its exposure to their beaks & feet. It looks like although they are sampling the leaves, the plants may be suffering more from being trampled. The chickens may be more excited about the freshly dug earth, and thus the possibility of bugs than the plants. Scratch up the dirt in some other areas and they may concentrate less around the newly planted mint. Also, are these plants the only greenery in the run? Fortunately, my chickens have run of the entire yard so there are green things aplenty; however I think if all they had was the mint they'd keep sampling/trampling it because it was all they had access too. Of course, that's JMO.

 

[Texas Fluffy Feet]

Right now this is all that is green in the run. About a month ago it had nice green grass in there but as soon as the chickens moved in that was the first thing to go. I can't let them just free range the yard because I have alot of landscaping that would harm them. I do have a mobile day pen 6'x6' square they get in several times a week. I move it to a different safe section of the yard each time. Honestly, I was shocked how fast 5 chickens could clear a 8'x20' space of grass. Granted it wasn't the most lush section of the lawn but all the brown you see is what remains of some once very healthy St. Augustine grass. I do want to get some more green in there, both that they will eat and some they won't just to keep it pretty. Seeing just dirt bugs me. I thought the mint would be the thing they wouldn't eat and I plan to sprout wheat grass or oats in a raised bed for the thing to eat.
I am going to make a temporary fence around the mint like you suggested and dig a hole elsewhere for them to play in but they were actually eating the leaves. There is nothing but bare stalks.
I make a habit of making sure they get some sort of fresh greens every day. Either they are in the day pen or else we toss fresh mixed salad greens in there or some other sort of vegetation such as fresh pulled weeds from the flower beds. Of course they also have access to as much chick feed as they want. I think I just have piggy chickens!

 

[Portia]

Nah, they're just chickens. Know that mint will spread like wildfire once its established, so if you have nice lush grass right outside the run it will spread there also. It does smell nice when cut with a lawn mower, but that doesn't really stop it. I think the only reason my chickens don't do much harm is b/c they have almost an acre for the 15 of them and they do wander the entire thing. Although they eat plenty of grass, it seems that this time of year their preference is bugs. \\
Good luck with the mint & raised beds.

 

[Carolyn]

I read somewhere that comfrey is good for chickens. It always disappears when I put it in the run. My aunt (one of the original organic gardners) told me to put a bale of alfafa hay in the chiken yard. This is my first time raising baby chickens and trying to establish a flock so I appreciate all the advice I can get.

I was sick most of the spring with a low energy level so the only weeding my flower garden has had is a few handfuls of weeds fed to the chickens each day. They seem to love almost anything green but are picker about kitchen scraps except for lettuce. In fact if I have correctly learned "chicken talk" they complain that DH forgets to give them something green on the days I'm working.

 

[digitS']

I listened to "stuff" about comfrey for 40 years. Never did I see the plant used as a hay by farmers altho' it was supposed by some to be a wonderful livestock feed. What perhaps should have put an end to all the claims of comfrey virtues was when the FDA advised against even tiny amounts of comfrey in dietary supplements. "These plants contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids, substances which are firmly established to be hepatotoxins in animals."

hepatotoxin = liver poison

Another problem with comfrey, which can't really be blamed on the species itself, is its similarity in appearance to young digitalis plants. Digitalis is rather seriously toxic.

Alfalfa is often an ingredient in poultry feed.

Steve

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
hehehehe they all have minty fresh breath now!

 

[Portia]

 

[Portia]

Well, my chickens still avoid the mint but scritch all around it while bug hunting. What they do love, love, love are rhubarb leaves...not the stems, mind you, only the leaves. They also like to sample the cilantro more than other herbs and snack occasionally on the strawberry leaves. I'm sure that once things start fruiting I'll have to break out the fencing & netting so the humans in the family can at least have a few.

 

[feeding frenzy]

mint grows like weed in my garden and my hen and rooster both love eating them. Since the yard is so big with lots of green grass, they only eat a little bit of the mint and mostly stick to grass