Herbs for Your Poultry First-Aid Kit
Add yarrow, calendula, and nettle to your bag of tricks.
Story by Heather Levin.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
WHEN YOU HAVE CHICKENS, you know that no matter how hard you try, illness and injury are going to happen. It could be a rogue raccoon breaking into the coop at night, a bullying situation between flock members, or a nasty case of bumblefoot that just won’t heal.
Every chicken keeper should have a chicken first-aid kit stocked and ready to go when you need it. Preparing a kit before you need one ensures that you have exactly what you need at your fingertips and that you won’t waste
time searching the house for supplies.
Although there are plenty of valuable supplies you can put in your emergency first-aid kit, there are also many natural medicinal herbs just as effective as commercial products that you could include. And when you grow these herbs yourself in a medicinal herb garden, you can save money by not having to buy what you need.
So, what medicinal herbs work best in a chicken first-aid kit?
Yarrow
Of all the herbs I grow and work with, yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is by far my favorite. If you can only grow one herb at home for your poultry first-aid kit, yarrow would be my top pick.
Traditionally, yarrow is known to have many healing properties, but it’s most well-known as a master healer and mover of the blood.
Yarrow is an excellent hemostatic (it stops bleeding), particularly with
wounds that are gushing bright, red blood. Soldiers from ancient Greece
through the American Civil War often carried yarrow with them to staunch
bleeding. Once dried and powdered, yarrow rivals any commercially made hemostatic on the market. And when you grow your own, it’s far less expensive than buying commercial blood stoppers.
Another benefit to yarrow is that it’s antibacterial and can be effective at preventing infection and at speeding up healing. A 2008 study in the journal Current Pharmaceutical Design confirmed many of these traditional uses,
finding that yarrow gives positive results for wound healing. It also documented yarrow’s analgesic (pain relief) and anti-ulcer properties. Another 2022 study in the Journal of Essential Oils Research observed that yarrow improves the healing process of skin injuries. In addition, a 2017 study in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology found yarrow to be an effective anti-inflammatory, helping restore skin after seven days of treatment.
The best way to use yarrow to treat chickens is to dry the stalks and flower heads. Once dry, grind them into a fine powder. Keep the powder in an airtight jar, and sprinkle liberally on bleeding wounds or wounds that are slow to heal.
Calendula
Calendula, also called “pot marigold”, is a sunny-yellow flower that brightens every garden. While many people grow calendula to use in bouquets, its cheerful face hides a deep, lasting, healing power.
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) is an analgesic. It’s cleansing and
detoxifying, and is anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antimicrobial, and
antiseptic. Calendula was even used in the American Civil War for its
ability to heal wounds and prevent infection.
Calendula can also help speed wound healing. A 2019 study in Wound Repair and Regeneration found that calendula helped reduce
inflammation in wounds faster than the control groups. In addition, wounds treated with calendula developed new tissue and blood vessels faster than the control groups.
To add calendula to your chicken first-aid kit, first dry the flowers completely. Next, infuse the dried flower heads in olive oil and keep in a
warm place out of direct sunlight for 4 to 6 weeks. Then strain. You can use
this infused oil directly on wounds, or take the next step and use it to make a salve.
Dried calendula flowers also make a fantastic addition to your chicken’s feed, as it’ll change egg yolks, feet, and beaks to a deep, rich yellow-orange
color.
Stinging Nettle
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is another powerful medicinal herb that’s easy to grow at home. Nettle is a nutritional powerhouse: It’s high in iron, calcium, fiber, and magnesium. Just one cup of cooked nettles contains 42% of an adult’s calcium needs!
I give my chickens dried nettles mixed into their feed for an added boost of nutrients, especially during winter months, and to keep their kidneys healthy. However, this is also an herb that’s useful to keep in your chicken first-aid kit for kidney-failure emergencies.
As Doug Ottinger reported in an earlier issue of Backyard Poultry, kidney malfunction is increasingly becoming an issue with laying hens. Rates of kidney disease have increased over the past 30 years, and kidney failure is now one of the leading causes of death in commercial laying hens.
Although backyard flocks are less at risk, there’s still a danger. And in small flocks, kidney failure typically manifests because of nutritional deficiencies.
Kidney malfunction and failure often don’t show in chickens until very late
in the game … which means it’s very hard to treat if you suspect something is wrong. And once birds start showing symptoms, they often have one foot in the grave.
This is why having a supply of nettle on hand is so important. Nettle is highly supportive of the kidneys, and it can be effective in restoring kidney function. You can cook fresh nettles in a bit of olive oil, or dry nettle and mix in with their feed.
Keep in mind that stinging nettle is named so for a reason. The leaves and stalks pack a punch when they’re touched! If you choose to grow and
harvest fresh nettle, always wear gloves and long sleeves. Cooking or drying
nettle causes the stinging hairs to fall off, so it’s completely safe.
SOURCES
• https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169819/nutrients
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3841996/
• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/wrr.12737
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037887411730418X
• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10412905.2022.2104392
•https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cpd/2008/00000014/00000029/art00007
• https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/feed-health/avoiding-kidney-damage-inlaying-hens/
HEATHER LEVIN is a homesteader, chicken wrangler of 30-plus chickens, and the founder of The Greenest Acre and Chicken Health Academy, a pioneering online learning academy that teaches natural and emergency chicken care strategies. Get weekly chicken care tips via her website: The
Greenest Acre. www.TheGreenestAcre.com/
Originally published in the August/September issue of Backyard Poultry magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
Excellent information as always. Keep up the good works