Chances are , there are wild plants growing near your home that are far more nutritious than super C you’re able to corrupt . Your chickens will sleep with these herbs , and so will you . you may stretch your volaille provender dollars by affix with wild plants that are free for the picking , and pick at at unused plants gives chickens something fun to do . secure , many wild works have medicative lineament . feed in them to prevent illness and utilise them to put sick or injured chicken on the patch .
allow ’s investigate well - identify herbs that rise most everywhere in North America ( and often the world ) as nutritious treats for chickens.natalia_photolife / Shutterstock
Chickweed
Stellaria media
Other name : chickenwort , greater stitchwort , Stellaria holostea , tongue sens and adder ’s oral fissure
A hardy one-year native to Europe , chickweedflourishes around the earth . It tolerate low temperatures , often blooming year round where temperature seldom fall below 15 degrees Fahrenheit , and it prefers fly-by-night , moist locations and plentiful , neutral filth . calculate for it in forest , meadows and waste position . It ’s a common garden weed , too .
Chickweed is a mat - forming plant growing up to 12 column inch marvelous , with ellipse - shaped , light green,1⁄2 – to 1 - inch leaf , hairy stems and tiny , lead - shaped white flowers . Chickweed has a long history of use as a nutritious comestible green by humans and animals .
It ’s a rich source of vitamins A , D , B complex , C , rutin ( a bioflavinoid ) , atomic number 20 , K , phosphorus , zinc , atomic number 25 , sodium , copper color , iron and silica . It comprise six times the amount of vitamin hundred , 12 time more Ca and 83 times more iron than spinach .
Apply a poultice of chickweed for inflammation , abscess , wounds and anything antsy . Internally , it ’s a aristocratic laxative and soothing to the digestive tract . Chickweed is also a useful expectorator to loosen mucus .
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Fun Fact : Sailors used chickweed acetum toprevent scorbutus when fresh citrus was unavailable .
Dandelion
genus Taraxacum officinale
Other names : wild endive , white endive , cankerwort and lion ’s tooth
Everyone knowsdandelion . A audacious perennial , dandelion originated in Eurasia , but European settler lend blowball to easterly America during the mid-1600s , where they civilize it in their gardens for solid food and medicine . Today , it farm wild in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere , including the U.S. andsouthern Canada .
blowball ’s long , deeply toothed , greenish leaves grow up in a russet scab from the plant ’s fleshy taproot , which , in the bound , sends up one or more naked flower stems , each end in a individual yellowed bloom . The prow hold milky latex sap . notice it in abundance in gardens , lawn , pastures , roadside and dissipation place .
Every part of the dandelion is edible : leaf , roots , stems and flowers . dandelion are an fantabulous origin of vitamin A , C and K. They also control vitamin E , folate and small measure of other B vitamins as well as significant amount of several mineral , include atomic number 26 , Ca , magnesium and atomic number 19 .
Dandelion is a potent anti - inflammatory and a born pain backup man . It has antioxidant quality and is used as a general health tonic . Many keepers tip dandelion with other herb to their chicken as a laying stimulant drug , and its flowers raise bright - Orange River egg yolks .
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Fun Fact : Seeds dispersed from a dandelion semen - head hard-skinned puffball can be carried up to 5 mile from their place of source .
Read more : Dandelion ismuchmore than a weed . Read about the plant ’s many benefit !
Plantain
Plantago major
Other names : uncouth plantain , broad - leafed plantain and soldier ’s herbaceous plant
Plantainis a usual perennial found in lawns , garden , along roadsides and in barren position around the world . Its thick , hairless , somewhat ellipse leaves raise up from a long , fibrous taproot , flaring out in a basal rosette along the ground . Six- to 18 - inch blossom stalks are tipped with capitulum of tiny dark-green - lily-white bloom . A narrow-minded - leafed potpourri , Plantago lancelike , also known as ribgrass , shares its nutritionary and medicinal qualities .
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Chickens love plantain , and human beings can eat the untried leaves , too , in salads or steam like spinach . plantain tree has been eaten in Europe forat least 4,000 years and was pack to NorthAmerica by former colonist as a food plant and herb . It control seven flavonoid , beta - provitamin A , crude and dietary fiber , fat , protein and carbohydrates as well as vitamins A , B1 , B2 , B3 , C and K and atomic number 20 , atomic number 24 , atomic number 26 , Mg , atomic number 25 , phosphorus , atomic number 19 , selenium and zinc .
Plantain is antibacterial , antimicrobic , anti - incendiary and a knock-down antioxidant , and it ’s specially noted for treat wounds and skin ailments . Make a quick poultice by chewing a few leaves and applying it to your chickens’(or your own ) skin disorders or injury .
Fun Fact : Musa paradisiaca is very undestroyable and resists terms when walked upon , so it ’s normally found in high foot - dealings location .
Purslane
Portulaca oleracea
Other names : piddling hogweed and pigweedNatpant Prommanee / Shutterstock
If you garden , you ’re probably intimate withpurslane . A summer annual , purslane trail across the ground , its succulent leaves spreading out , matlike , from a basal rosette like spokes on a wheel . Puslane ’s prostrate stems grow up to 12 inches in length , while its tranquil , lustrous , viscous leave are green on top and pale regal underneath , growing1⁄2to 2 inches long . get hold it growing in just about any location , including the cracks in sidewalk .
aboriginal to East Asia , purslane came to our shores with other settlers as a potherb and herbal works . It was first recorded in Massachusetts in 1672 .
Purslane is an excellent source of vitaminA , one of the highest among leafy immature vegetable . It ’s also a robust source of vitamin atomic number 6 , and some B complex vitamins such as riboflavin , niacin , pyridoxine and carotenoid , as well as minerals such as iron , atomic number 12 , calcium , potassium and atomic number 25 . Purslane leave of absence also hold back more omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy vegetable plant .
Will your hens benefit from purslane in their diet ? You bet ! Its drooping nature makes it ideal for hanging along run fences and henhouse paries . Or eat on it yourself raw in salads or cooked like super C . The taste is similar to spinach or cress green . Purslane stores well . Its succulent leaves and stem stick around fresh without infrigidation for several days after harvest .
Fun Fact : A single plant produces up to 240,000 germ . seed are feasible in the soil for up to 40 years .
Stinging Nettle
Urtisca dioica
Other name : common nettleSlatan / Shutterstock
Perennialstinging nettlegrows throughout the worldly concern , including all of the U.S. except Hawaii .
nettle like racy , dampish grunge , so find them in dense clumps on sloppy meadows and along woodlands , fence rows , stream beds and ditches . Nettle ’s substantial , bristly stem grows from 2 to 7 feet tall and bear deeply serrated , pointed leaves that are downlike underneath . Bristly hairs on the fore and leaves act like a hypo , throw in an irritant under the skin when touched .
Wear long sleeve , long pants and gloves when gathering or handling fresh nettles !
Technically , chickens consume raw nettle without harm , but it ’s best to reap nettle and provide them to droop before feeding . Air wilt or steaming them , or boiling in batch of weewee for a few minutes , neutralizes their sting
Several scientific subject area indicate that due to their lutein and zeaxanthin content , feed in nettles to hens makes their eggs ’ vitellus a richer yellow .
Consider this :
Stinging nettle is also a fine root of Cr , cobalt , phosphorus , potassium , zinc , bull and S , along with vitamins A , C , D , K and B complex .
Fun Fact : Nettle fibers have been used for yard of years to weave nettle material . During World War I , German soldier hold out uniforms made of nettle cloth due to a shortage of cotton .
forgather and serve wild plants is fun and rewarding . Plus , you might just find them very tasty too !
More Information
Feeding wild herbs to your chickens is a child’s play . tuck them unused , tie their stems together and hang them on volaille run fencing or henhouse paries . you’re able to also place them in feed troughs and let your birds have at ’em .
Another choice is to dry them for wintertime manipulation . Place them on paper towel over newspaper in a well - ventilated area out of the Lord’s Day , arranged so the leaves or plant do n’t reach one another . knack - dry them is even easier . truss their stems in humble big money , and hang them upside - down in the same sorting of well - give vent , shady area until ironic .
Store dried herbs whole or loosely crumbled . Do n’t crush them into powder prior to storing them . If an herbal recipe call for fine-grained herb , serve the herbs just before mixing .
Store dry herbs in paper bags , cardboard boxes or shabu containers but not credit card or metal . Keep them in a coolheaded , ironical blank space , out of direct sunlight . Mix dry herb with your chickens ’ normal intellectual nourishment . Most Gallus gallus will also eat dried herbs if they ’re served on the side in separate feed cups .
you’re able to also loosely backpack a quart canning jar with your favorite works , cover it with simmering pee , cap and let steep overnight , then bring the nutritious herbal afternoon tea to body of water receptacle or sprinkle it over feed . With unassailable - tasting herbs such as blowball , start with a small amount and sum up more as your birds become used to the nip .
Read more : When & how should you glean your herbs ?
harvesting herbs for your chickens in a safe , responsible style . Buy a good raving mad - industrial plant identification book with percipient illustration , and make certain you know what you ’re pick . If you ca n’t positively distinguish a plant , do n’t use it .
Pick only in region that are free of chemical substance and self-propelled exhaust . invalidate sprayed yards , Rosa Parks and the position of roadway . break up in midmorning or subsequently , when dew is off the plant . Dig most root in later fall . Mark plant during their inflorescence phase angle so you may find them later when you need them .
Take only what you ask and always result some plants behind .
This article originally appeared in the July / August 2022 return ofChickensmagazine .
