A chicken’s gotta eat, right? Especially if they’re layers. They must have the calcium required to put the shells on their eggs. The trick is making sure that every bird in your coop is getting exactly what they need. How can that be done?
In this article, you’ll discover some ways you can make sure each and every one of your chickens eats enough so they’re healthy. Here’s our best tips to help ensure that each chicken is filling their belly!
How Much Food Do Chickens Need?
For reference, one adult hen or rooster eats roughly 1/4 pound of feed per day. This amounts to about 1.5 pounds per week. For hens, you’ll want to provide a high-quality layer feed (this is the feed we use). It should be a complete feed, meaning it has the right amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals so your chickens stay strong. For pullets (female chickens that aren’t laying eggs yet), you should feed a 16% grower feed or you can continue feeding their 18% protein chick starter feed (this is the chick starter we feed because it has herbs).
For layers, it’s also very important to provide a calcium supplement. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, “laying birds require 3.5%–6% calcium because of the nutritional demand for laying eggs (a typical egg requires ~2 g of calcium).” You can easily provide extra calcium with oyster shells, or even eggshells.
Keep track of how much your chickens are eating. If you go to check on them, and there’s significantly less feed being eaten by the flock, it could indicate a problem. You can learn more about feed here.
Signs Your Hens Aren’t Eating Enough
Some obvious signs your chickens aren’t eating enough include:
Low weight/Easy to feel bones
Pronounced keel bone
Reduced egg production
Abnormal eggs
Disheveled feathers
Depressed personality
Keeping eyes closed
Low weight/Easy to feel bones
If you’ve noticed your hens have lost weight – maybe you pick them up, and they feel lighter, or you suddenly notice you can feel their thigh bones through their skin – it’s possible they aren’t eating enough.
You might wonder how much your chicken should weigh. Truthfully, it depends on the breed. For example, Mille Fleurs weigh about 2-3 pounds, while Jersey Giants can weigh 10 pounds. In this article, you’ll discover the average weight for most chicken breeds. You can print it out and keep it handy. It’s always a good idea to keep records of how much your chickens weigh (to make it easy, we’ve created these downloadable sheets). Assuming they’re in good health, weighing your chickens monthly should be enough (if they’ve been sick, and you’re trying to get weight back on them, then you might opt to weigh them weekly.)
Pronounced keel bone
I personally use the keel bone (also called the breast bone) to keep an eye on my flock. If I pick up a hen and notice her keel bone is pronounced, she goes on a high fat/high protein diet (for example, black soldier fly larvae) until her weight is ideal.
The keel bone is a good indicator of whether your poultry are underweight. Image is an illustration of a turkey skeleton.
How should the keel bone feel? Like there’s some padding on each side of it. You should still feel the bone itself, but it shouldn’t feel like there’s a dramatic dip on either side. If my hen “just feels bony” in that area, I get concerned. It’s a quick and easy test to check if your flock is getting enough calories.
This is also an easy test regardless of breed. Every chicken, whether they’re a tiny Serama bantam or a huge Brahma, should have some substantial muscle on each side of their keel bone.
Reduced egg production
Sure, this is something that comes with age. And for some chicken breeds, this happens as days get shorter. But if you can’t identify any other reason why your hens might have stopped laying (you can learn about all the reasons here), then she might not be getting enough calories.
Imagine going to collect eggs from your hens on a beautiful summer day, only to find that one of them hasn’t produced anything. If it is a one-time occurrence, that’s not a huge problem. It’s something to watch, certainly. But not the end of the world. If she doesn’t lay over several days, on the other hand…you might want to bump up their feed. This is especially true if most or all of your hens stop laying.
A quick and simple fix is to offer layer feed around the clock. If you want, you can also add high protein & high fat treats.
Abnormal eggs
If your hens are laying, but the eggs are abnormally shaped, such as wrinkled or soft shelled, or if your established laying hen lays “fairy eggs,” this could be a sign that your chickens aren’t getting the necessary nutrients. (Fairy eggs are common for brand new layers to produce, but your adult layer shouldn’t be popping them out consistently).
It takes a lot of energy to produce an egg. If your hen doesn’t get calories from her feed or from free ranging, she runs a higher risk of laying eggs with shells that aren’t smooth. It’s time to increase her feed. You can learn more about what different weird-looking eggs mean in this in depth article.
Feather damage
Feathers are durable and tough, but damage to them is often the first indication of something that might be wrong (as long as it’s not molting season). Picking at feathers, or even out-of-season molting, could be a sign that your birds’ diets are not ideal. Additionally, if your hen has a disheveled appearance, for example if her feathers are broken or ruffled, she might be lacking important nutrients.
Don’t confuse this with molting (although you should definitely provide a feather supplement during a molt). Chickens who lose their feathers and then regrow them can definitely look disheveled. However, this is expected, and occurs in the fall/winter. If your hen has an unkempt appearance at other times of the year, her diet might be the reason.
Depressed personality/Keeping eyes closed
Sometimes our hens seem “off.” They’re usually bright and cheerful. But if you enter their coop, and they just seem depressed and low energy, you might have a problem on your hands. Similarly, unless she’s trying to take a nap, your chicken should be interested in her environment. But if your chicken keeps her eyes closed – even after you rouse her – she might be sick. You’ll have to rule out illness first. If the vet clears her, then try increasing how much feed you offer, especially if you feel her keel bone (using the test above). It’s possible she doesn’t feel well because she’s hungry!
How Can I Help Every Chicken In My Flock Get Food?
Observation
This is kind of a bizarre tip. But it is nonetheless important. In fact, it’s pretty critical! Before you can figure out how to help chickens who aren’t eating enough, you need to know why they’re not eating enough! So, watch your chickens for a few hours. Figure out their social structures, and diagnose the problem that’s preventing some hens from eating. If you notice there’s some flock members who aren’t able to get to their dinner, you can troubleshoot ways to ensure that everyone is fed.
For example, if you notice a very bossy hen keeps your little bantams from the feeder, you can add more feeders (more on this below).
Or, maybe you think you’re providing enough feed, but really aren’t. Maybe they run out after 10 minutes, and there’s nothing left for the weaker flock members. But you won’t know unless you observe.
You’ll also get a better understanding of the eating habits of your birds. Pay attention to the amounts of feed that you’re putting into their feeders, or distributing on the ground, and you’ll get a sense of the amounts being eaten – or worse – not being eaten.
I’ve found that observation is very important in my own coop. For example, my bantam Cochin hens love staying up in the loft in their coop. They don’t really like coming down. We used to have a lot of roosters in the coop. Staying above the crowd was safer!
Now that there;s fewer roosters, they still prefer to stay above the fray at mealtimes. They just don’t like being overwhelmed. However, they don’t always eat as much as their flock mates. So, I take extra care to put a bowl of feed where THEY can access it.
Similarly, my frizzle bantams are lower on the pecking order. They can’t really fly, and will crowd into a corner at mealtime. Having multiple feeders – and strategically placing them – keeps them full all the time. But if I hadn’t watched how each individual chicken acts at mealtimes, I would never know!
Only Keep As Many Chickens As You Can Reasonably Care For
This seems like an obvious thing, but chicken math is a real issue. If you suddenly end up with 100 chickens, you’ll probably have a hard time keeping an eye on all of them. Little problems can creep in and become big problems. For example, if you have a large flock, you probably have a pretty well-established pecking order. Your alpha chickens eat first, and the more passive hens eat last. It’s also possible your bossy brood won’t allow the weaker flock members to eat at all. Yes, it happens!
Only raise as many chickens as you can reasonably keep an eye on. This goes double if you’re a busy person who doesn’t spend a ton of time at home! You must monitor their health, and do a physical check regularly.
Money is another concern. The more chickens you have, the more money it costs to feed them. If you’re on a budget, just get a few hens. You’ll have an easier time making sure everyone gets enough to eat. Nothing is worse than stressing about how to pay for a ton of chicken feed every week! In our area, if we had to purchase a ton (literally 2,000 pounds) of feed, it would cost $200-$300 each week. And that’s from a grain mill (which typically charge a lot less), not a farm store like Tractor Supply.
Hand Feeding
Hand feeding is a fantastic way to make sure that your birds are eating, especially if you have a friendly flock. By being in control of the dispensation of grains, pellets, and goodies, you can manage exactly which chickens get what. It’s also a great way to bond with your flock! Some treat options are layer feed, black soldier fly larvae, or other treats.
Hand feeding chickens is an easy way to give them extra calories. It’s also an easy chore for kids, and a great way to teach your children about raising chickens.
The biggest drawback to this method of feeding is time. Hand feeding is incredibly time-consuming, especially when we’re talking about large flocks of hundreds of chickens. This idea is probably best with small flocks of 3-5 chickens.
Multiple Feeders
Having multiple feeders is critical if you have a larger flock OR if you have bullies in your coop. I personally install 2 feeders for every 6 chickens. You can hang the feeders or simply use a bowl (we use a LOT of bowls because they’re easy to clean). For wall feeders, I personally like Duncan’s feeders because they’re durable and hold a lot of feed. I also use large dog bowls, rubber livestock bowls, and feeders that hang from the ceiling. If you’re interested, you can check out our complete list of recommended feeders.
Look out for chickens who feel overly possessive and decide that the feed trough is theirs. These chickens will peck away any other birds (ducks included). In this case, a long trough or multiple dishes can certainly make it a challenge for the possessive chicken to peck everyone away.
It’s also important to include some feeders that can be accessed from all sides. For example, if you use feeders that hang on the wall, your hens will only be able to eat on one side. But if you also have feeders that hang from the ceiling, your layers have multiple opportunities to eat their grain. It’s also harder for bossy chickens to chase away flock mates, because they’ll probably be too busy eating their own meal.
Trough style feeders make it easy to feed multiple chickens. Flock members can access the feed from both sides.
Hanging feeders off the ground also makes it difficult for chickens to kick dirt or mud into their food (feed that drops from the container, on the other hand, are fair game for dirtying).
If that doesn’t work for your flock, you can opt for long troughs. They’re easily accessible from front and back, which ensure that each hen has enough time with the feed. You will probably have to clean them more often, but you’ll sleep better at night.
Even one-at-a-time feeders can promote even distribution of feed to all in the flock. Many are automatic or contain a pressure trigger that opens when a chicken steps on it. Over the course of a whole day, this ensures that feed is available to all. Whichever strategy you choose, it’s important to ensure an even dispersal of feed to all. The best feeders are those that can satisfy the needs of many birds at the same time.
Not sure how to add multiple feeders to a smaller coop? One way to manage limited space is by going up, rather than out. If you create a triple (or quadruple) floored loft for your birds, you could set up feeding stations on each level. The chickens might develop a favorite feeding place, and refilling their feeders might required some creativity, but overall, this would be a very creative use of space.
Scatter Their Feed On The Ground
Owners who want their chickens to have the full free-ranging experience can opt to distribute their birds’ feed right into the earth of the pen. This encourages the hens to root, peck, and scratch, all of which are very good for them. By spreading the distribution of feed all throughout the penned area, no single chicken can get all the goodies. Setting the flock loose in an exhausted garden can also accomplish this goal. Your chickens will tear up weeds, till the ground, and feast on any remaining produce. Chickens make for amazing gardeners – it couldn’t hurt to use them for a task they were built for!
One of the biggest drawbacks to this method is that can be quite messy, and your chickens might eat something gross. Chickens poop a lot, and if all of their food is on the ground, some of it is bound to get pooped on. Then, in addition to healthy bits, your layers will also get some unhealthy bits as well. Another drawback is bad weather. Not every backyard can be in lovely sunny 60 to 70 degree climates every day. Most yards will experience rain, possibly some snow, and both extreme heat and cold. All of this can create challenges.
Separate Chickens Depending On Age & Need
Chickens need different feeds depending on their ages and purposes (for example, chicks vs. 12-weekers vs. 2-year-olds, broilers vs. layers). If you feed your chicks along with your layers, it’s likely your birds will get the wrong food. It’s simplest to keep adults and chicks separated.
It will keep them eating the right food. Just ask any physical trainer, and they’ll tell you that what you eat is just as important as how you exercise. It is exactly the same for your chickens. It also reduces the numbers in your flock at mealtime. Smaller numbers mean more food for each individual. It ensures every bird has greater access to the feed that you’re giving them.
Similarly, if you have some bossy hens who are overweight, and some very passive hens that are more scrawny, you might want to keep them separated at meal time. You can be sure each chicken gets exactly what they require to be healthy.
Not everyone has the space to separate their chickens depending on age. Luckily, we’ve provided an article on what to do in such a situation. The secret is balance. Ask “what’s the best feed for all the chickens in my flock?” You’ll probably decide on a 16% grower feed, as this is a decent balance between chick needs and adult needs. The hens will need a calcium supplement (which can be supplied separately), but at least everyone gets enough food.
Variety
Just giving all of your birds chicken feed from a store can keep them eating, but it might grow old for them. Yes, this is really a thing! Imagine eating corn every day, in and out. You’d probably get bored too!
By providing small amounts of treats, you’ll distribute all sorts of goodies and entertainment. You can try hand feeding their treats, and the variety will keep them engaged and happy. It also shows your love to them, and can satisfy certain needs that otherwise might be ignored in store-bought feed. Plus, it is just plain fun interacting with your birds this way!
Final Thoughts
While this article is designed to be preventative, rather than reactionary, a wise chicken keeper knows that their flock will need constant supervision. Chickens are incredibly social animals. Each one has their own personality, and sometimes their personalities get in the way of what is best for the flock, even in spite of your best efforts to keep them all healthy and hearty. Hopefully, it will never get to a point where your birds are visibly suffering, but in case it does get to that point, at least you’ve got these tips to help redistribute your feed to all.
Maat van Uitert is a backyard chicken and sustainable living expert. She is also the author of Chickens: Naturally Raising A Sustainable Flock, which was a best seller in it’s Amazon category. Maat has been featured on NBC, CBS, AOL Finance, Community Chickens, the Huffington Post, Chickens magazine, Backyard Poultry, and Countryside Magazine. She lives on her farm in Southeast Missouri with her husband, two children, and about a million chickens and ducks. You can follow Maat on Facebook here and Instagram here.
Do you want to add nesting herbs to your flock’s daily routine? Not sure which ones are best for your hens? Not sure what your flock really needs? In this article, you’ll discover the simplest way to figure out which nesting herb blend is best for your hens!
We’ll also cover how different herbs can provide different kinds of support, and why it’s so important to choose the right nesting herb blend.
What’s The Point Of Nesting Herbs?
You’re looking at all these herbs for chickens on Amazon, and they’re all starting to look the same. You’re not even sure what you need! Herbs can provide a lot of all-natural support and help you establish a healthy flock. They can also create a home for your hens that’s inviting and promotes egg laying, without using any synthetic or chemical scents.
There’s a few different ways to use herbs:
As a feed additive
In your flock’s water
Mix with bedding
Add to nesting boxes
For example, you can mix herbs with your flock’s feed to improve digestion, improve the flavor of their feed, support immune systems, and/or add environmental interest. If you mix herbs into your flock’s nesting box or bedding, you can provide respiratory support, make the coop less attractive to flying insects, repel mites, and/or improve air quality. You can even use herbs topically by mixing into dust baths or by sprinkling them directly on your flock.
Why Most Flock Owners Use Nesting Herbs
If you’re new to chickens, or just looking to up your game, you might wonder why other flock owners use herbs in their coops, nesting boxes, and feed. There’s got to be some advantage if everyone’s doing it, right? After asking my readers, everyone I talk to has one or more of these 5 common reasons:
#1 A great smelling & inviting coop
#2 Healthier & better smelling nesting boxes
#3 Support egg production
#4 Pest control
#5 Respiratory support
Interestingly enough, these are also some of the biggest concerns that plague owners. Who doesn’t want a clean, great smelling home for their pets? Who doesn’t want great eggs with strong, unbroken shells? Who doesn’t want their hens to lay in nesting boxes?
There’s a lot of different ways to arrive at this goal. My personal goal is to raise a healthy flock using as many natural solutions as possible. In my experience, herbs are some of the least expensive and most effective ways out there to raise a naturally healthy coop (especially compared to replacing flock members or visits to the vet).
In our own coop, we started adding herbs to nesting boxes a few years ago. The hens seem happier and enjoy the herbs as treats. I like that the hens lay their eggs right in the nesting boxes (as opposed to the ground, where they can easily get broken and eaten). During days when they can’t go outside, the herbs keep them entertained for part of the day.
For example, this year, we’ve had a LOT of rain. Since chickens hate wet weather, they stay inside. This can quickly turn happy hens into bored hens who pick on each other and/or eat their eggs out of boredom. So, we regularly add herbs to relax the hens and provide environmental interest. It keeps them entertained and engaged, rather than indulging in unhealthy and negative behaviors.
With herbs, you can sweeten the smell of nesting boxes, repel flying insects during the summer, provide a healthy breathing environment, and more. (Just remember that herbs aren’t a magical panacea – you must keep your coop clean, and refresh your bedding weekly, and perform other good animal husbandry practices).
We’ll dive into each of these reasons below. We’ll also cover which herbs or herb blends work for each specific reason.
First, Beware Of Nesting Herb Blends That Won’t Work
What’s not commonly understood is that herbs have specific traditional uses. Humans have sorted it out over centuries, and now there’s even studies to show how useful herbs are. Because people now know so much about herbs, we also are aware that an herbal combination can work against you.
For the best results with nesting herbs, it’s crucial to buy your flock’s nesting herbs from a safe source and to verify the herbs in the bottle are the real deal.
Skip the grocery store because their herbs can sit around warehouses for YEARS. You can’t really know where they came from OR if they’re 100% pure. The herbs could easily be treated with chemicals (supposedly) safe for humans, but not meant for chickens to eat.
Many times, companies will combine lesser quality herbs, or even a different species of plants. One example is cinnamon. Most cinnamon sold isn’t actually cinnamon. It’s cassia bark or a completely different herb called Chinese Cinnamon. Similar, but definitely NOT cinnamon. Cassia bark and Chinese Cinnamon don’t have the same benefits for repelling pests.
So, make sure your herbs are USA sourced, all natural, and never synthetic or treated with any chemicals. We use these nesting herbs in our coop because we want to use all USA sourced botanicals. We want to make sure experts are consulted before a company develops a product.
Now, let’s talk about how to choose the right nesting herbs for your flock. The information below will make it very simple for you to decide on the perfect nesting herbs for your hens, and avoid blends that work against you.
What Kind Of Environment Do You Want To Create For Your Hens?
Some nesting box herbs you see on Amazon or Facebook aren’t created for a specific purpose. Usually, the herbs in these products are chosen because they’re popular and sound good. These products aren’t created by backyard chicken experts working with herbalists or veterinarians. They’re created by anonymous companies who want to capitalize on the backyard chicken craze.
These blends don’t have much use. You can tell because the manufacturers make many claims for a single product, such as “controls worms AND helps relax AND improves your flock’s immune system, AND controls mites” etc.
These claims sound good. If you read between the lines, however, you’ll discover the true meaning: “We don’t know what we’re talking about, so we’ll just say what you want to hear.”
On the other hand, some nesting herb blends are created for a specific use. You can buy a blend for:
Pest control (such as mites)
Intestinal worm control
Supporting egg laying
Creating a relaxing environment
Adding environmental interest and joy to your coop, or
Immune support
To make your decision easy, ask yourself: What do you want your new nesting herb blend to do?
Do you want to support egg laying?
What about controlling mites and lice?
Offer respiratory support?
Figuring this out will help you decide on the perfect blend for your flock. It’ll also help you determine whether those herbs will work for you OR against you. You’ll end up with more bang for your buck, and a much less frustrating experience.
To make this point more clear, let’s look at some common situations we all need to troubleshoot in our own coops.
You Want To Support Egg Production
Supporting egg production is really, really important. It’s a very easy way to make sure your hens are as healthy as possible. If your:
Flock is super healthy already, and you just want a little extra support
Want to treat them to a fancy, sweet smelling nesting box
then it’s especially important to provide something extra to help your chickens. When they just start laying, pullets (and even grown layers) don’t always make enough calcium to produce a strong eggshell. Why is this?
Creating eggs takes a lot of nutrients and energy out of your hens. She must draw the calcium from somewhere to craft her eggshells. It also takes a lot of nutrients! Luckily, providing support is easy. You can:
Provide oyster shells for extra calcium
Increase the protein in your flock’s diet
Add herbs to their nesting boxes for extra nutrients & to create a nice-smelling nesting area
Let’s look at the options above.
Oyster Shells
When your chicken eats oyster shells, it provides extra minerals to help her create healthy eggs. Readers frequently email me to ask why their hen laid a wrinkled, lopsided, or soft shell egg. It’s probably because the hen wasn’t getting enough essential minerals! Oyster shells are mainly made of calcium, and when your hen eats them, she can use the calcium to produce strong shells.
Soft-shelled eggs like this can happen because your hen doesn’t eat enough calcium.
You can offer oyster shells free choice, in an herbal blend (like our blend Best Eggs Ever!), or mix with your flock’s daily feed.
Herbs To Support Egg Production
If you’re reading this article, however, you probably know about all oyster shells. And you’re probably also interested in using herbs in your coop. Luckily, you can also support your layer with herbs! Dried flowers such as:
calendula
rose
lavender, and
chamomile
can create an attractive nesting box. This is especially important if your hens aren’t using their boxes, and laying their eggs in the coop, or worse, in the dirt. (We talk more about why hens stop using nesting boxes in this article).
It’s best to mix herbs together before adding them to the nesting box. Although a single herb will have some benefit, such as a great smell, when blended together, they’ll provide even more support.
For example:
Beta carotenes in calendula support nice, golden yolks.
Calendula, lavender, and rose petals are soothing
Garlic, basil, and rosemary support healthy oviduct functions.
While you can use any of these herbs individually, you’ll get better results if they’re blended together to provide a symphony of support (we’ve blended them together in our product, Best Eggs Ever! to make it easy.). The herbs mentioned above smell great, and have been used for centuries for these specific purposes.
You Want Your Hens To Relax And Use Their Nesting Boxes
Healthy eggs start with happy hens. If a layer is scared, stressed, or unhappy, she’ll likely stop laying eggs. For example, if a predator got into your coop, your flock might be scared. They might stop laying altogether, or simply refuse to use their boxes. They don’t feel safe!
Similarly, if your boxes are smelly, you might notice your hens prefer to lay on the ground, or worse, in a random place on your lawn. (Hello Easter egg hunt!)
They don’t feel safe in their boxes.
How We Help Hens Who Refuse To Use Nesting Boxes
Whenever one of our chickens stops laying or refuses to use her nesting box, we first thoroughly clean the nesting area, then add herbs to their boxes. The sweet smells and bright colors get their attention, and attract our hens to their nesting boxes.
Whenever this happens, you might consider adding herbs to attract your hens to their nesting boxes. Herbs that help your hen relax are a perfect choice. You’ll want an herbal blend that smells great, and is irresistible to our feathered friends.
Not every herb will do! You’ll want herbs traditionally used to create a relaxing environment. Fragrant flowers like:
Calendula
Chamomile (traditionally used to relax)
Lavender (also traditionally used to relax)
Rose petals (great scent)
are all great options.
Flowers or Petals?
You can use the whole flower or just the petals. Either is fine! For lavender and chamomile, I use the whole flower since they’re so small. I also use the entire calendula flower because the petals are very light, and blow away easily. The chickens can still pluck the petals off the flower.
Rose petals are a bit heavier and bulkier, so using the petals is easiest (in my option). While the whole flower is very pretty, it’s harder for chickens to pick at. The petals also look like spots of red among the other herbs, which is visually attractive to chickens. In my experience, hens are more likely to interact with rose petals versus the whole flower.
Other herbs traditionally used for relaxing include basil, rosemary (also great for purifying surfaces and the air), and clove.
It goes without saying that it can be difficult to grow all these herbs and flowers year round. Some aren’t friendly for every gardening zone, while others take a long time to establish so you’ll have enough. You might need acres of available land to make enough of each herb. This is where nesting herb blends come in.
We use Best Eggs Ever! whenever our hens need some extra support or seem stressed. It’s easy to just add it to the bedding in our nesting boxes. It has all the herbs mentioned above.
You Need Pest Control
Will herbs stop mites from biting your chickens?
Let’s say mites are a problem in your coop. This is bad! Mites can make your chickens uncomfortable and unhealthy.
How do you know if your chickens have mites?
Sometimes you see them crawling on your chickens
There’s usually feather loss (around the vent, especially)
You see mite poop on your chickens. It looks like grey dirt caked onto the base of feathers (where feathers grow out of their skin)
Your chicken’s skin look red, dry, and irritated
The scales on legs are flaking off or look very bumpy (not smooth)
If you see one or more of these symptoms, you might have mites! You should take your pet to the veterinarian:
If you’re not sure IF they have mires OR
If you’re not sure what to do about it.
If you want to handle it yourself, you have some options to try:
A pharmaceutical solution (it’s best to speak to your vet for specific recommendations)
Vaseline on the legs (will be harder to implement on the rest of the body, but is good for scaly leg mites)
Apply diatomaceous earth or put it into their dust bathing area (good for legs and rest of body)
Use herbs (mix with feed, put in nesting areas, use topically, and/or sprinkle in dust bathing areas)
Personally, I use a mixture of diatomaceous earth and herbs. Both are easy to get, and easy to apply. I use them topically, in the nesting boxes, and in the dust bath area (our blend, MitesBGone makes it really easy).
Let’s talk more about the herbs you can use.
Which herbs are good for pest control?
You want to make your hen house a healthy, fun place for your flock to hang out. You want to give nesting herbs a try. Well, you’ll need a blend that includes herbs specifically chosen to help you transform your coop.
Not all herbs are created equal, and different herbs have different uses. In this situation, calendula isn’t going to cut it. Neither will roses. Borage won’t either.
This is why it’s SO important to not spend your hard earned dollars on a blend that’s for a variety of complaints. For example, some blends on Amazon claim they “control worms AND help relax AND improve your flock’s immune system, AND control mites” etc. I personally stay away from these nesting herbs. Like I said, herbs aren’t a panacea. It’s best to choose a blend for your specific need.
Adding MitesBGone to nesting boxes or dust bathing areas makes it easy to raise a healthy flock
Getting back to pest control. If you want clean, healthy nesting boxes for your layers, then you should use a nesting box blend with herbs traditionally used for to control pests on the body, and to repel them in the environment. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has endorsed several herbs as safe for pest control:
Garlic (great for flies & mites)
Rosemary (great for mites)
Cinnamon (great for mites, ants, & flying insects)
Spearmint (great for mites)
Citronella (great for mites & flying insects)
This shouldn’t be any new information. These herbs have been traditionally used for centuries to promote a clean body and environment! The EPA is just catching up to old time, traditional knowledge. We’ve used these herbs in our coop for a long time, and they’re fantastic.
In fact, it’s how we developed one of our products, MitesBGone! Mites don’t like these herbs!
But before you rush to add herbs to your boxes, it’s important to remember that when the herbs in a blend are randomly chosen because they’re popular, you might not get the same results. In addition, if you look at the list above, no one herb works for every bothersome insect.
But blended together, you can provide a clean environment for your hens. If you want to check out MitesBGone, click here for more information.
You Want Respiratory Support
We’ve all been there. The weather is questionable, your flock wants to stay inside, and YOU want to keep your flock in the best shape possible. We all know how important air quality is – ESPECIALLY during days when the weather isn’t super supportive.
You need a blend that includes botanicals traditionally used to support a healthy breathing.
Again, not all herbs are made equal. Some herbs can actually reduce healthy respiratory functions, or contain very small particles that can lead to lots of sneezing.
Experts have written volumes about the best herbs to support breathing AND which herbs prevent healthy breathing. So, you choose a nesting blend that includes ONLY these herbs.
For example, I wanted to create a nesting herb blend that would support our own flock, especially during very rainy weather, winter weather, and very HOT weather (when ammonia can creep up in the coop).
I wanted to ensure my layers had only the best herbs. I consulted the experts! We wanted to make sure 100% that there’s nothing in our coop that can lead to poor respiratory support.
We dove deep into exploring and discovering the herbs that have been used for centuries.
We ended up choosing specific herbs for my flock that would help cleanse the air and support healthy breathing. Eventually, this mixture became our coop blend, BreatheRight, because they’re the herbs the experts recommend.
For example, we discovered that we can support our flock with:
Spearmint
Mullein
Turmeric
Eucalyptus
These herbs have been used for centuries, across many different cultures, to support a well-ventilated and clean environment. If you inhale any mix with these herbs, you’ll know why! All these herbs work together – not against each other OR our goal of a healthy living space.
We incorporate BreatheRight Coop Herbs into our flock’s nesting box during times when we want our chickens to have extra support. You can also mix them directly into your coop bedding. Just sprinkle ½ cup in each corner, and mix to combine.
Final Thoughts
So, there you have it! Hopefully, this article makes it easier for you to figure out which nesting herbs are best for your flock. Think about what you want nesting herbs to do for your flock, and make sure those herbs (and only those herbs) are included in the blend. It’s easy to find “any old nesting box herbs,” but it’s very important to discover a product for the specific problem you want to solve. If you;d like to learn more about any of the herb blends we mentioned in this article, just click here.
Maat van Uitert is a backyard chicken and sustainable living expert. She is also the author of Chickens: Naturally Raising A Sustainable Flock, which was a best seller in it’s Amazon category. Maat has been featured on NBC, CBS, AOL Finance, Community Chickens, the Huffington Post, Chickens magazine, Backyard Poultry, and Countryside Magazine. She lives on her farm in Southeast Missouri with her husband, two children, and about a million chickens and ducks. You can follow Maat on Facebook here and Instagram here.
Read any gardening article, tutorial, or how-to, and you will inevitably see endless amounts of information about “zones.”
It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but really, it’s not that complicated. Gardening zones, or hardiness zones, refer to the areas set out by the USDA for planting. The USDA Hardiness Zone Map separates North America into 11 separate planting zones, with each growing zone about ten degrees Fahrenheit warmer or colder on average than an adjacent zone.
If you’re new to gardening, here’s everything you need to know about gardening zones.
What Are Gardening Zones – and Why Are They Useful?
Gardening zones make it possible for you, as a gardener, to compare your climate with the climate where a plant is known to grow well. Information about your gardening zone can tell you not only which plants will grow well in your region based on temperature but also based on rainfall.
The most updated zone maps don’t just take into consideration these factors, but also things like changes in elevation, proximity to bodies of water, and terrain features, making them even more accurate when it comes to predicting the temperature and its effects.
Gardening zones are separated by ten-degree differences, spanning the lowest up to the highest potential cold weather conditions. The types of vegetation that has the lowest numbers can survive the coldest weather, and those with higher numbers prefer warm climates. If a plant falls right in the middle – for example, if it belongs to gardening zone 3-7 – it can survive a bit of cold but probably not prolonged freezing conditions. It will likely not hold up well to desert heat, either.
When you buy plants either from a nursery or online, you’ll notice that they are broken down into hardiness zones. These often are broken down further into “a” and “b” counterparts. We will break down the various zones for you below – and while we won’t go into detail about the “a” and “b” counterparts there, essentially all you need to know is that plants marked with “a” usually tolerate winter temperatures about five degrees cooler than those marked with “b” for the same gardening zone.
Once you know your gardening zone, you can choose the best plants for your area without having to waste your money on plants that will inevitably die. You will be able to provide better care for your plants and you may even discover that some of the plants you grow are much more versatile than others. By understanding which plants work best for your gardening zone, you can grow a more diverse, more successful garden.
How to Find and Interpret Your Gardening Zone
There are numerous hardiness zone tools available online. These will tell you all kinds of information, such as temperature ranges, first and last frost dates, and even the type of ecological system in which you live. You can also refer to one of many USDA gardening zone maps online, which are usually color-coded for easy comprehension.
Each plant type has its own designated hardiness zone, meaning the plant will be tolerant of the lowest temperature in that area. Planting outside the hardiness zone can result in your plants being shocked by extreme cold or heat. Therefore, it’s important to understand your gardening zones to hat you can choose the best trees, vegetables, shrubs, and other plants for your area.
Zones aren’t stagnant entities, either. As the climate continues to change, zones can change, too. They are usually updated every few years. The USDA continues to get better at classifying zones as it focuses in on certain features of climate that can affect plant growth beyond temperature, such as wind, urban heat, humidity, and rainfall.
Make sure you know your exact gardening zone and don’t just assume that the farther north you are, the lower your gardening zone will be. Average temperatures aren’t just affected by latitude but also by other factors, as we’ve mentioned already. Seattle, for instance, has a warmer gardening zone than Baltimore – which is located much further south.
The 11 Gardening Zones of North America
Here, we will break down for you the major gardening zones. Interested in learning which gardening zone applies to you? Look at the
Zone 1-2
Winter Temperatures Can Reach: -60 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit
Includes: Northern and Central Alaska
What to Plant: Lettuce, kale, asparagus, broccoli, eggplant, vine tomatoes (plants with short times between planting and harvest)
Growing Season: April to September
Zone 3-4
Winter Temperatures Can Reach: -40 to -20 degrees Fahrenheit
Includes: States bordering Canada such as upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Minnesota
What to Plant: Broccoli, asparagus, spinach, lettuce, kale, vine tomatoes, eggplant, strawberries, sweet peas, potatoes, winter squash
Growing Season: April to October
Zone 5-6
Winter Temperatures Can Reach: -20 to 0 degrees Fahrenheit
Includes: Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut
What to Plant: Corn, squash, tomatoes, melons, strawberries, beans, lettuce, leafy greens in the fall and spring only
Growing Season: March to October
Zone 7-8
Winter Temperatures Can Reach: 0 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit
Includes: Arizona, Northern Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Oregon, Northern California
What to Plant: Tomatoes, corn, melons, collard greens, squash, carrots, bush beans, leafy greens during cold months
Growing Season: March to November
Zone 9-10
Winter Temperatures Can Reach: 20 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit
Includes: Central Florida, Southern California, Arizona
What to Plant: Tomatoes, squash, melons, peppers, yams, peaches, citrus, figs, bananas, salad greens and peas during cold months only
Growing Season: February to November
Zone 11-13
Winter Temperatures Can Reach: 40 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit
Includes: Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Hawaii, Puerto Rico
What to Plant: Passionfruit, sweet potato, cassava, mango, Thai chili peppers, citrus, taro, bananas, Okinawa spinach, pineapple
Growing Season: Year-round
How to Work With (Instead of Against!) Your Gardening Zone
Start by figuring out your gardening zone with one of the tools mentioned above, and then realize that there are ways to make your gardening zone work for you – instead of against you.
Just because you live in a cold growing zone (we’re looking at you, zone 2) doesn’t mean that you can’t grow anything at all. You just need to become more skilled at planning and being flexible when it comes to your garden.
First, realize that plant hardiness zones vary. As accurate as the USDA attempts to be in its estimations of growing zones, there are variations. Some chunks of a zone will receive a ton of rainfall, while others in the same zone might be very dry.
Either way, use a planting schedule based on your area to take the guesswork out of gardening. These will give you a better idea of when to start seeds inside and whether there are crops that can be planted a second time in a season in your gardening zone.
You may have to change what you want to grow. Sorry, zone 4 folks – you aren’t going to be growing pineapples outside any time soon! There are some plants that just don’t work in certain areas.
However, there are always ways you can make it work. For example, you can grow heat-loving plants indoors in containers or you can use a greenhouse to extend your growing season. Additional tools, including frost protection methods like row covers and cold frames, can help make it possible to create the ideal gardening environment, too.
What to Keep in Mind With Your Gardening Zone
Like all things in life, gardening zones aren’t perfect. There are some situations that zone maps aren’t fantastic at working with.
For example, the USDA map does an excellent job of determining the garden climates of the eastern portions of the United States. Since this section is relatively flat, it’s easy to draw zone lines parallel to the Gulf Coast every 120 miles or so as you move north.
Yet there are still drawbacks. In this region, the USDA map doesn’t take into consideration how helpful snow cover can be over perennial plants or the regularity of freeze-thaw cycles (we all know how unpredictable those infamous January thaws can be!). In addition, it doesn’t factor in soil drainage during cold months.
Moving westward, the gardening zone maps become even less reliable. Once you reach North and South Dakota down through Texas – and then moving westward- you’re going to struggle to figure out the most accurate gardening zone because of the elevation. In addition, as you get closer to the Pacific Ocean, it’s more challenging to predict temperature and weather because of the unpredictability as patterns move over numerous mountain ranges.
As a general rule of thumb, though, knowing your gardening zone is a great place to begin if you are new to gardening. It will help you figure out which plants may not make it in your climate – and which ones will thrive.
Maat van Uitert is a backyard chicken and sustainable living expert. She is also the author of Chickens: Naturally Raising A Sustainable Flock, which was a best seller in it’s Amazon category. Maat has been featured on NBC, CBS, AOL Finance, Community Chickens, the Huffington Post, Chickens magazine, Backyard Poultry, and Countryside Magazine. She lives on her farm in Southeast Missouri with her husband, two children, and about a million chickens and ducks. You can follow Maat on Facebook here and Instagram here.
Is your flock refusing to lay eggs in their nesting boxes? Want to spoil your hens by creating a nesting area that’s beautiful and inviting? In this article, I’ll show you 7 most common reasons why chickens refuse to use their nesting boxes, what to do about it, and how to provide the best nesting area possible.
It can be heartbreaking and confusing when your flock lays their eggs on the ground instead of the carefully designed nesting boxes you provide. Nobody wants dirty, poop-crusted eggs! It’s also disappointing when they start hiding their eggs or stop laying completely. You spend so much time and money setting up their nesting area, after all! It can be really, really frustrating.
Getting your flock to consistently use their boxes can take some trial and error, but it CAN be done. It all starts with providing an attractive and inviting nesting area. With the easy ideas below, you can discover if you’re making some very common mistakes in your own coop. If your hens aren’t laying eggs, be sure to print this article out. You can use it as a checklist.
Let’s cover the common reasons why your chickens might avoid laying eggs in a nesting box.
Common Reasons Chickens Won’t Use Nesting Boxes
Too much noise & commotion
There’s mites in the nesting area
The boxes smell or are dirty
The bedding is wrong
Nesting boxes are too high or too low
Your hens don’t like the material your nesting boxes are made out of
They don’t have enough nesting boxes
Chickens Like Their Privacy
It’s true. Even though they’re incredibly social animals, chickens like privacy when doing their most intimate business – laying eggs. Why is this? When a hen lays an egg, it can take up to 1 hour for the egg to actually emerge from her vent. She must stay still and quiet the entire time. In the last few moments, before the egg is laid, she might even have to strain a little. As you can imagine, it’s not a time when she wants roosters, humans, or other hens bothering her!
If you locate your flock’s nesting boxes in a busy area, your hens might avoid it. Similarly, if they’re easily accessible to roosters or bossy alpha hens, it’s likely too stressful for a quieter hen. In these cases, she will find her own, more suitable, area.
Make sure your flock’s nesting boxes are inside the coop. Choose a corner where there’s no feeders, waterers, dust bathing areas, swings, or anything else that can attract another chicken to the area. Dedicate that nesting area just for laying eggs. Your hens will appreciate it!
Are Mites A Problem?
We all know what mites are. But did you know they can hide in nesting boxes? Not only that, they can turn a cozy, daydreamy nesting box into a nightmare. Eventually, mites can even cause death. If your flock’s nesting boxes are infested, your hens might avoid them altogether.
So, how do you know if there’s mites? Personally, I automatically assume mites will creep in, especially if I don’t do preventative maintenance. Regularly cleaning nesting areas helps. Spraying the area down with a cleaning solution and scrubbing it regularly is a simple but effective strategy. An all natural cleaner made from citrus is a cost-effective option.
But don’t stop there. Cleaning prevents existing mites from making the boxes a home, but it doesn’t stop the invasion completely. Do double duty by adding herbs traditionally used to prevent external parasites to your nesting area. Herbs are a cost effective and all natural solution that can discourage mites from returning. Mites can cause anemia, which usually requires a visit to the vet to diagnose and cure. So preventing them is cheaper than a big vet bill. Always make sure to source your blends from a reliable source. We use this herb blend because it’s created specifically for chickens.
A chicken with mites isn’t a comfortable chicken! Mites can make their nesting boxes an unhappy place to lay eggs. Get rid of them ASAP!
Does It Smell Bad?
Finding eggs on your coop floor? Not always cleaning your nesting boxes when they need it? Then your hens are likely avoiding the smelly, confined areas.
Who wants to lay in a dirty, stinky bed? Nobody. And your hens aren’t any different. Lots of things happen in nesting areas that humans can’t see. As the box gets dirtier and dirtier, problems compound. Eggs break. A hen drops manure or urine. Ammonia builds up. Their eyes start stinging. Feathers get stuck everywhere. It’s unpleasant.
The simplest way to avoid this is to clean the nesting boxes weekly. Remove all bedding, and do a wipe down. Then, add clean bedding and herbs. For a more detailed explanation, you can read this article to learn how to clean a coop.
It’s also important to clean any unusual messes as quickly as possible. For example, if an egg breaks, don’t allow the smell to fester and the egg to dry. It’ll be hard to get the stench out of your flock’s feathers. You’ll spend even more time cleaning. You’ll end up with stinky chickens in addition to no eggs. You want to avoid wetness, stickiness, and bad smells. Clean the box immediately, and replace any bedding and herbs.
Which brings us to an important point: great smelling herbs are an easy way to keep your flock using their nesting boxes. Chickens are animals, and smells are very important. It’s how they understand their surroundings. They use scent to determine if an area is safe or not. We’ve found that adding herbs and dried flowers creates a more inviting area that smells better. Instead of repelling our chickens, the herbs invite our flock to use their nesting boxes.
We like this product, which is full of fragrant, healthy herbs and flowers like calendula, lavender, chamomile, rose petals, and more. The herbs are all healthy for chickens, and other buyers report the herbs attract their chickens to nesting boxes better than just bedding alone.
Herbs can make any nesting box more attractive. This blend smells great, and chickens love it!
Is The Bedding Wrong?
Have you always used a certain type of bedding? Or, are you not using bedding at all? Chickens are sensitive, like a lot of prey animals. Bedding that doesn’t suit them – for whatever reason – can stop them from using their nesting boxes. If your flock won’t use your nesting boxes, try out different bedding options. Straw and pine shavings are two popular options. Adding herbs to bedding can also help attract your hens. In our coop, we use pine shavings from Tractor Supply and Best Eggs Ever! Nesting Box Herbs. Our flock enjoys them, and our hens always give us about a dozen eggs a day.
Adding ENOUGH bedding is important, also. What would you rather sit on: a thin cushion or a nice, fluffy pillow? Personally, I’d opt for the fluffy pillow. I’m sure your chickens feel the same.
When they lay eggs, the hens tuck their legs under them and bed down. Sitting on hard, cold metal hurts the shank of their legs and their toes. If their coop floor offers nice, fluffy shavings, they’ll likely opt to lay their eggs on the softer area. Add at least 1 inch of shavings per nesting box, and top it with ½ cup of herbs and flowers. Adding extra bedding and herbs can cost a bit extra, but it’s better than spending money on feed with no eggs to show for it! Your hens will show their appreciation by giving you lovely butt nuggets!
Whatever bedding you choose, just make sure to stay away from cedar shavings. While they smell good, some studies have shown that the aroma can have a long-term negative impact on your flock’s health.
Are The Boxes Too High Or Too Low?
It’s true, sometimes chickens can sometimes be picky. While we have a lot of nesting options in our coop, for whatever reason, our flock refuses to use any that are placed too high. There’s a Goldilocks zone. If a new nesting box isn’t within those parameters, they ignore it.
For example, a company sent us some nesting boxes to test out. The product looked perfect. But we committed a cardinal sin (at least a sin in the eyes of our chickens): We placed the boxes higher than our other nesting boxes. The hens promptly ignored them. As soon as we lowered the boxes, our chickens used them.
It can go the opposite way, too. Sometimes nesting boxes are TOO close to the ground, and hens avoid them. This happens especially if the nesting boxes are directly on the ground. There’s a lot less privacy, and potential for opportunistic predators to infest the area to steal eggs. Bossy hens, roosters, rats, snakes, skunks, or other predators can easily enter the box. Because it’s not safe, chickens then lay their eggs in undesirable areas.
If everything else in your coop seems okay, then perhaps the height of your boxes is the problem. Try lowering them or raising them to see how your flock reacts. It can be a chore, but so is an Easter egg hunt every day. In the long run, you’ll be happier with the results by finding your flock’s “ Goldilocks Zone.”
Choose Materials Your Hens Prefer
When we purchased our new coop, I had visions of easily removable plastic nesting boxes. I wanted to power wash them weekly to keep them dirt free. My flock had other plans. To this day, they refuse to use plastic nesting boxes. Instead, they’re fans of stainless steel. I’m still scratching my head, but that’s just the way it is.
Nesting boxes come in all shapes and sizes. They can be made of wood, stainless steel, plastic, wicker, and any other material you can imagine. Like people, chickens have their own preferences. This is especially true if you have an opinionated alpha hen. She can influence an entire flock. And sometimes, chickens just prefer one type of nesting box over another.
For example, if your nesting boxes are made of cedar, it’s possible your hens want to avoid inhaling harmful fumes. If the boxes are plastic, maybe they’re just too slippery. If it’s winter, maybe the stainless steel gets too cold. In the summer, maybe it’s too warm. Maybe it’s too sharp or too hard, and it hurts them.
Examine your own flock’s habits. Observe them as they interact with the nesting boxes. From there, you can figure out if they’re avoiding their boxes because they don’t like what the boxes are made from. You’d be surprised what you can learn by spending a few hours watching your chickens. You might end up investing in new nesting boxes, but it’s cheaper than getting a big feed bill with no eggs to show for it.
When they love their boxes, hens will double up to use them!
Make Sure You Have Enough Nesting Boxes
It’s best to have approximately 1 nesting box for every 3 hens. Yes, sometimes your hens will all use the same nesting box. But please give them plenty of options. For example, if you have 5 chickens, 2-3 nesting boxes is best. For 10 hens, then 3 nesting boxes is a good number. If you have 15 hens, 5 boxes is best.
Why is this ratio important? It comes down to promoting good behavior and cleanliness. Let’s pretend two or more hens need to lay eggs at the same time. Where will all these lovely ladies lay? Sometimes, two chickens can pile into a nesting box.
But most boxes can’t accommodate more than two hens. More importantly, they shouldn’t. When hens pile into a box, chaos happens. Eggs break, and fights start. If it’s hot, your hens can overheat. Somebody can get smushed or suffocate. Your hens might avoid the boxes altogether because it’s too stressful.
Having plenty of nesting boxes also prevents bullying. If you have a dominant hen, she might stop other hens from laying in “her” box. Then, the other hens start laying in undesirable areas. They have to lay somewhere! To avoid all these disasters, just follow this simple strategy. Build 1 nesting box for every 3 hens. You’ll get better eggs and have happier hens!
Final Thoughts
Yes, some chickens can be picker than others. But if your flock has suddenly stopped using their boxes altogether OR if they never used them to begin with, it’s pretty safe to say your flock’s tastes aren’t the only issue. Likely, the problem is environmental. Hopefully, I’ve given you a few ideas you can test in your own coop. You don’t need to implement every single strategy we discussed. But if you notice your flock is laying eggs in undesirable areas, it’s worth printing out this article and using it as a checklist. From there, you can determine whether you’re making any of the mistakes we covered. Good luck and let me know how it works out by leaving a comment below!
Maat van Uitert is a backyard chicken and sustainable living expert. She is also the author of Chickens: Naturally Raising A Sustainable Flock, which was a best seller in it’s Amazon category. Maat has been featured on NBC, CBS, AOL Finance, Community Chickens, the Huffington Post, Chickens magazine, Backyard Poultry, and Countryside Magazine. She lives on her farm in Southeast Missouri with her husband, two children, and about a million chickens and ducks. You can follow Maat on Facebook here and Instagram here.
Whether you’re a novice gardener with zero knowledge of plant care or an expert who can read a sun chart like the back of her hand, you no longer have to go it alone when it comes to caring for your plants.
The days of relying on folklore and the Farmer’s Almanac are over. Today, the Internet has made it possible to get all kinds of information about how to care for your garden with the simple click of a button.
There are also thousands of useful apps that can benefit your plants, too. Here’s everything you need to know about today’s top gardening apps.
How Gardening Apps Can Help You
Gardening isn’t necessarily a high-tech hobby, but in this day and age, there’s no reason not to use every single tool that we are given! Gardening apps can help you in so many different ways.
For example, you might consider some of these most popular features that gardening apps offer. With a gardening app, you can:
Identify poisonous plants
Determine which insects are beneficial or harmful to your plants
Plan out your growing season
Know when to harvest certain plants
Access advice from other gardeners Understand your soil type
Gardening Manager is a neat app that allows you to easily keep track of your planting schedule. You can take notes in the app’s diary feature, allowing you to track growing patterns for later seasons. Garden Manager has a sister app, too, which is called Plant ALarm. This app lets you save a variety of gardening alarms to help you keep track of what needs to be watered and when.
Garden Time Planner has information about when you need to harvest and plant your crops. It will give you information about the individual type of plants as well as their region. It also gives you a handy task list so that you can stay on top of everything you need to do. It’s available for both iPhone and Android users.
Plant Diary is an easy to use app that is free for Android. It lets you keep track of the gardens you plant and you can even make a physical map of your garden with it. It’s not a fancy or high-tech app by any means, but it’s perfect for someone who is doing just a small amount of gardening.
Garden Answers is one of the best apps for you to use if you are new to plant identification. An easy-to-use identification app, it can identify more than 20,000 plants. You’ll walk away with some seriously useful information. It’s also easy to use – all you need to do is take a picture of a plant, press submit, and wait for your answer.
Available only for Android, this app has a user-friendly design and allows you to peruse a list of vegetables and fruits to give you an idea of what to plant. You can add them to your garden in the app and then plug in the date that you planted them. You will be given a progress bar so you will know when they are ready. You can add or remove items to the calendar.
This is a great app for people who are new to gardening as well as those that are pressed for time. You’ll learn everything your plants need to be healthy – and you’ll also stay organized in the process.
Gardenate is one of the top-ranked gardening apps. It includes a calendar so you know what you should plant each month. It also has a Wish List to let you keep track of plants to grow in the future.
GardenTags is more of a community app than anything else, providing a platform for helpful gardeners to share tips and information with each other. Plant care is sorted so you can get information about how to deal with pests and weeds.
Garden Compass is another app designed exclusively for iPhones. This app helps gardeners by teaching how to identify certain diseases and pests. If you notice anything odd in your garden, all you need to do is snap a picture of it and the app will identify it.
Leafsnap doesn’t just have a catchy name – it’s also recommended and used by the Natural History Museum. You know it’s got to be good! Unfortunately, it’s only available on iOS. However, the app contains gorgeous high-resolution photos of all kinds of plants and all their various parts, including fruits, leaves, flowers, bark, and seeds.
Garden Squared is another helpful app that helps you keep track of what is planted within your garden. Only designed for gardens with a size range no larger than 4×8 feet, it’s perfect for someone who already knows how to garden but just needs an easy-to-follow planning system.
As the name implies, the Flower CHecker app provides useful plant identification services for flowers. However, it doesn’t stop there – you can get information on more than 90% of all plant species! The app has no advertisements, too, which is another great feature to consider.
Vegetable Tree is a fun app that is currently the top-selling app for iOS devices. It contains all the information you need about sowing seeds and caring for your plants, and tells you all the characteristics of the different fruits and vegetables you might grow in a garden. You can choose from just about any kind of plant and you can customize it to your garden’s specifications.
Available for both iOS and Android, SmartPlant helps you to identify plants. It’s more than that, though, and also features a Digital Care Calendar to tell you when and what all of your plants need. You can further personalize the experience by adding specific plants you have in your garden. The app will provide you with updates on what you need to do to care for them – and more importantly, when.
Gardening Companion helps you keep track of the progress of your garden. Like many of these other apps, it also has information about how to care for your plants.
Unfortunately, Moon Gardening is not a free app, and it’s only available on iPhones. However, it can be super useful if you believe in the power the moon has on your plants’ growth. It shows you a moon calendar with all the phases and related zodiac elements, letting you know when you should water your plants based on that information.
Plantifier is a bit different from the other apps on this list because it doesn’t rely on experts but instead on the masses. To contribute, all you need to do is upload a picture of the unknown plant and let the other users on the site will help you figure it out. It also helps you track the progress of your plants and flowers too.
GardenMiner was designed by Gardener’s Supply Company and is one of the best gardening apps for you to consider if you want to stay on top of every step of the gardening process. It provides users with weekly alerts and how-tos so you’ll never have to worry about what to do.
My Soil was designed by the British Geological Survey and gives you all the information you need to know about the soil in your local area. You can get information on everything from your soil type to its pH, it’s temperature to how much organic matter it has. This is super useful if you’re trying to figure out what kind of plants to grow in your area.
Garden Plan Pro isn’t just for “pros” – it’s also a great tool for novice gardeners. This app helps you get all the tips you need to design an herb, fruit, or vegetable garden. It includes tools to help you arrange your plants, layout the garden, and even track its progress.
Homegrown was created by Bonnie Plants and is a great app for people who are just getting started with growing their own food. It allows you to create a high-tech garden journal and also displays your weather for the next five days. It includes growing advice for more than 250 plants, too.
Beesmart Pollinator Generator is a cool app that you can use to learn how to attract certain types of pollinators to your garden. From annuals to perennials, trees to vines, this includes a ton of information about how to bring these helpful creatures to your property.
It can be tough to figure out how to best plan your garden. iScape helps with this, allowing you to virtually design your garden before you even plant.
The House and Garden magazine offers a handy app. This app allows you to draw inspiration from gorgeous backyards so that you can easily plan your own display.
Agrobase helps gardeners identify the most common weeds, insects, diseases, and other factors that are interfering with their garden’s success. Designed for farmers, it can be a bit tricky to use if you only have a small garden. However, it also offers solutions for some of the most common issues.
Which Gardening Apps are Best for Me?
If you’re just getting started with using gardening apps, don’t rush in all at once. It might make sense for you to try one app first and see how well that meets your needs. After all, you don’t want to bog down your phone with a million different apps!
However, gardening apps can be super useful tools for novice and expert gardeners alike. Give one a try this growing season!
Maat van Uitert is a backyard chicken and sustainable living expert. She is also the author of Chickens: Naturally Raising A Sustainable Flock, which was a best seller in it’s Amazon category. Maat has been featured on NBC, CBS, AOL Finance, Community Chickens, the Huffington Post, Chickens magazine, Backyard Poultry, and Countryside Magazine. She lives on her farm in Southeast Missouri with her husband, two children, and about a million chickens and ducks. You can follow Maat on Facebook here and Instagram here.
