Tips & Recipes

 I'll add to this post from time to time to keep it fresh

Herbal & Food tips, please feel free to comment or ask questions

Basil:

Antibacterial, repels flies and mosquitoes 

Fennel

An incredible powerful laying stimulant. Add some freshly shaved fennel to their feed now and then, you can also add some of the leaves to their nest boxes.

Sunflower seeds

Sunflower seeds are a good treat for your chickens. Chickens typically love them, and for a treat, they're very nutritious. They contain methionine, for example, an important amino acid for birds. There is lots of vitamin E, too! 

I feed the Black oil seeds and use these in the blends I make, the chooks eat them whole but they get ground up in the gizzard as long as they get enough grit.

Parsley

Is a great addition to your chickens diet. It's rich in vitamins and promotes circulatory system and is another strong laying stimulant. I use it in some of my products including Super Eggs

Oregano

 is known to strengthen the immune system and is thought to help guard against common poultry illnesses such as salmonella, infectious bronchitis, avian flu and e-coli, we use Oreganonin our Super Egg Blend

Diatomacous Earth (food grade)

I'm going to add a link here to a good article that explains it much better than I can, click here

How to Make Tea for chickens:

Fill your teakettle with water and heat to boiling. Partially fill a glass mason jar with fresh herbs. Pour the boiling water over the herbs to completely cover then, then let them steep for ten or twenty minutes or so.

Serve warm on cool days or freeze in summer as ice cubes and give as a treat. It really encourages them to stay hydrated. Add a teaspoon of local or organic honey to boost health benefits even more. If you'd like to buy premade teas click here

Make your own disinfectant spray

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup distilled water
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 8 OZ spray bottle
• 7 drops lavender essential oil
• 7 drops tea tree essential oil

Both lavender and tea tree have natural disinfecting properties. tea tree is anti-viral and anti fungal. 

Directions:

Pour the vinegar into your bottle, use a funnel if you like. Add the essential oils. Pour in your distilled water. Shake the bottle to distribute the oils. Can be safely used around pets, spray door handles, table tops, etc

DIY Coop Spray

To make a basic herbal coop spray, you need to pick 2-3 different herbs such as Basil, Thyme, Oregano, Calendula, Lavendar etc. Mix with:

• Peels from 2-3 oranges or lemons
• 1 1/2 cups of vodka
• 1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar

Put everything in a one-quart mason jar, and allow it to sit for 2-4 weeks. Then, strain it into a glass spray bottle. Use it on all of the surfaces of your coop!

DIY Facial scrub for dry skin

Here in Colorado we have to deal with dry skin and hair due to the low humidity. This is one of my favorite easy facial scrub recipes to help moisturize and combat the dryness.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup uncooked oats
• 1/8 cup honey
• 1/8 cup olive oil

Pulse oats in a food processor until they are broken down but not quite like powdery flour. Place oats in clean bowl and mix with honey and olive oil.

Apply to clean skin, massage into skin and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, rinse off and apply your favorite moisturizer.