Fall is the best time to plant garlic - specifically just after the first frost. If you live in Australia, please flip this post upside down you you can read it better (and don't plant garlic until spring)... and if you happen to reside in a place like Grand Cayman, it probably isn't advisable to wait until after the first frost as it could indicate that Hell is finally freezing over - in which case planting garlic might be the least of your worries!
(And for those who don't know, there is an area in Grand Cayman by the name of Hell. I've been there and quite enjoyed it!)
Anywhooo -
We have long touted the benefits of feeding your flock garlic and we came across a wonderful article recently that we would like to share with you:
Garlic for Chickens
And if you would like more information on planting garlic. check out this article by Mother Earth News!
All About Growing Garlic
I don't really have a specific recipe for garlic but I do love it! I will have to forward this post to my daughter. She (and I but mostly she) built a chicken coop earlier this year. She has nine chickens, 3 reds, 3 tetras, and 3 Easter Eggers (I forget the real name) and all but two Esater Eggers are laying.
ReplyDeleteOh, one recipe my sister gave me is to take 5 pounds of potatoes cut in a large dice, 1-2 sticks of melted butter and many, many garlic cloves, minced. Mix all together and bake for 1.5-2 hours at 375F.
Patti
Patti - that sounds delicious!!
DeleteYUM!!!
DeleteI am planting garlic again this year in hope's it grows. I haven't had any luck in the past so I am hoping the garlic I bought local this year means it will grow at my house as well. We haven't had a frost yet, tho it certainly feels cold enough to have frost, but its in the garden with some deep litter mixed in, covered with straw, then a piece of netting over it to keep the hens out of it.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed I have garlic next year.
I don't have a recipe but I use fresh garlic as I am canning for the recipes that call for it
I have my fingers crossed you get a wonderful garlic harvest next summer! There's just nothing like fresh garlic for cooking!
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I wish I weren't allergic to garlic.
ReplyDeleteI also wish I had chickens — so so so bad! — but I have hawks and owls and foxes and mountain lions and other predators here, and there is NO way I can handle building a coop all by myself. I look at the ready-made ones sometimes, but I wouldn't feel comfortable putting them unless I laid a concrete foundation. My yard also isn't fenced, so they'd have to stay in movable runs, which I'd have to build.
One day I'm gonna figure out some way to manage it, though! Maybe fence in my unused stables or something. Or set the coop up in the covered loading dock for the barn. That has a concrete floor. But I'd have to build them a covered walkway to get to a covered run in the yard.
Where there is a will, there is a way! And I think you have some good ideas as to where to put a coop - like on the existing concrete floor. Most of the predators you have to worry about are most active at night. Focus on making a coop that is predator proof and a run that is simply a deterrent for the fewer daytime predators. There is never a way to make certain they are 100% safe, but folks have been raising chickens all over the world for thousands of years. Predator attacks do happen, but don't let this stop you from keeping chickens.
DeleteAnother thought for your outdoor pen is to put strands of electric wire or electric poultry netting around the outside - this will deter *most* predators, day or night.
Leigh
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Delete(Darn it, I'm having wonky commenting issues!)
DeleteThe daytime runs would be because I don't have any fence at all, so I just need some way to keep them in the yard. I wouldn't want chickens wandering into the middle of the one road through town. They'd get squished for sure, probably by a logging truck. Even if the chickens were super-smart and knew to stick close to home, all of my neighbors have dogs that keep busting out of their fenced yards and I find them rambling around in mine. I'm sure they'd LOOOOVE a free chicken dinner, but I don't want to be the one to give it to them. I would cry and cry!
Look into electric poultry netting. It is super-easy to put up, it can be moved about the yard easily and it will deter mammalian predators.
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Can you get hold of any concrete paving slabs? This is a really easy way to stop gnaw-happy predators getting into the coop from underneath, and also gets owners in more urban areas around any planning permission issues from having a "permanent" concrete floor in an out-building?
DeleteGreat suggestion on the paving stones!!
DeleteHi, I have always avoided giving my chickens anything with garlic because I thought it would effect the egg flavor. I will look into planting garlic. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou would actually have to feed them a huge amount of garlic for the flavor to affect the egg at all. Interestingly in a study where chickens were fed HUGE amounts of garlic, a blind taste-test found that people preferred the taste of the chickens that ate the garlic in comparison with chickens that were not fed garlic at all. There are so many health benefits to feeding garlic that I would say, "Don't hold back! Give those birds some garlic!"
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I saw this in the article you linked to:
ReplyDelete"The respiratory system can benefit from breathing steam which has (fresh) garlic infused into it. This can be done by placing the bird into a show cage / puppy crate -anywhere that can be covered in plastic easily (still allowing enough air to breathe) and placing a steaming bowl under the plastic -but- outside of the cage (so your bird doesn't get burnt). This can help their breathing as an expectorant and gets the active anti-inflammatory ingredients directly into the lungs."
I haven't thought of that before but that's a really good point. I'm also guessing it might help with aspergillosis rather than using oxine mist. Interesting.
[Readers FYI - aspergillosis is contracted from breathing in mold spores in damp/wet indoor litter conditions or rotting, moldy wood indoors. Keeping indoor areas clear of wet litter areas where mold can proliferate will prevent it.]
Yes - here is the link to the article we did on Aspergillosis. (Copy and paste the following link into your address bar:
Deletehttp://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2014/07/ducklings-chicks-and-aspergillosis.html
Thank you for pointing that out, LM!
And now you have to update us on that bird - did it survive or did she lose all of them? (In the aspergillosis post._)
DeleteShe saved the rest of them! She used Oxine (without the citric acid) in a vaporizer and misted the others 3 times a day for a few weeks. She also fed plenty of garlic and oregano. The birds steadily improved and seem to be fine now! Of course she doesn't know how much permanent damage may have been done, but she has at very least extended their lives and they are acting fine!
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Great info. Just might have to add garlic to my list of things to grow! I’m obsessed with edamame beans and recently found a recipe for a quick and easy dip. I haven’t tried it yet but anything with edamame and garlic should be delicious. Place 2 pkg edamame beans, 2 cloves garlic, ¾ tsp paprika, ¼ c lemon juice, ½ tsp kosher salt & pepper, 3 tbsp olive oil & water in a blender. Pulse until fairly smooth but leave a few small chunks and serve with veggies. Add a little more water if too pasty. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeazy!
ReplyDeleteOooooo - that does sound good! That would be good with avocado too! Yum!!!
DeleteYour opening paragraph gave me a good laugh. Love your blog voice. Garlic makes me swoon! But... I have no chickens. :-D
ReplyDeletejust blogwalking.. nice post :D
ReplyDeletejust blogwalking.. Nice post and have a nice day :)
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