I keep a small flock of 6 in my backyard, and when I say my backyard, I mean that the coop is right off the patio. The ladies spend a fair amount of their days looking in the back sliding door, dreaming of being house chickens. If they every figure out how to use the dog door, then they will in fact, become house chickens.

I am one of those people who hyper fixate on projects long before I dive in. Designing and planning are my strength. The coop moved locations several times in my mind while deciding on the coop plans and the run design. Ultimately, they landed right off the patio. Knowing that these ladies would be sleeping right next to our outdoor living space I had a couple of things on my mind.

1. The flys. I admit, I have not conquered the flys. They are everywhere including inside the house. We DID have fun with an electric fly swatter though - oddly satisfying.

2. The smell. It’s no secret that chickens poop……a lot. So keeping the coop clean and odor free was a research tangent I read about throughly. Choosing the chicken run material (read about our sand run here), and our choice to use the deep litter method inside the coop to maximize our use of the compost, and natural herbs.

In come my discovery of nesting box herbs. they not only keep coop smelling fresh, they serve other purposes like mite & pest control and keeping hens happy and relaxed for optimal egg laying.

HERBS ARE AMAZING AREN’T THEY?

I keep a small apothecary in the kitchen with basics like lavender, calendula, arnica and comfrey. I use them to make salves for various reasons. I grow herbs like rosemary, oregano and basil for my kitchen uses and now I keep a whole other list of herbs for my chickens! Spoiled ladies, I know.

While researching making lots of notes about what to grow and harvest for the ladies I came across a lot of nesting box herb mixes. Keeping that idea in my notes I started to pin blogs I liked that had their own recipe, then I came upon Lisa Steele and her blog Fresh Eggs Daily. Instantly in love. Especially how she layed out the ingredients.

Calendula - helps to repel pests, smells wonderful
Chamomile - creates a calm aroma for your ladies
Cornflower - edible herb chickens love - it’s a little speedy and could be omitted if you choose
Lavender -creates a calm aroma for you and your ladies, repels pests
Peppermint - helps to repel rodents - mice hate mint!
Rose petals - smells nice, generally easy to harvest and dry yourself
Rosemary - helps to repel pests (my ladies lounge around my rosemary plants)
Spearmint - helps to repel rodents
—-a couple I added myself——
Thyme - my ladies absolutely love my thyme plants, they lay right on top of them to sunbathe and lounge
Oregano - amazing for respiratory health.
(NOT AN HERB) Lime - not the fruit, but ground limestone for pest control

All of these are easy to grow in your own herb garden (with the exception of Lime). I actually have a space staked our for next year to grow these specifically for my nesting boxes. Until then, I ordered 4oz bags of each of these from Amazon - Here’s my list to make it easy for you

Basically just mix it all up in a plastic tote or other storage bin. When you clear the straw or nesting pads out of your nesting boxes have your herb mix on hand to sprinkle among the new straw.

An additional plus - this mix is completely compost friendly! So just toss it all in the compost pile or compost tumbler and nothing goes to waste!

All of these herbs have multi purpose uses for your home apothecary and kitchen and now your chicken coop!