It is HOT and we have definitely reached the point where we try to stay inside unless it is early in the morning or late in the evening. And, while our chicken yard has the most shade, there are still parts of it that are in direct sun until late evening.
While we don’t treat our chicken like pets, there are times where we give them treats. We feed them corn, sunflower seeds, extra produce from the garden, and, with the temperatures close to 100 degrees, we decided to freeze some herbs/flowers in ice.
This honestly doesn’t even have to be for chickens. You can take different edible flowers, fruits, and herbs to make ice cubes for your own drinks. Basil ice cubes are extremely refreshing in drinks, like lemonade.
What can I use?
You can use:
- Calendula
- Strawberries
- Blackberries
- Nasturiums
- Blueberries
- Lemon
- Borage
- Mint
- Lime
- Lavender
- Oranges
- Raspberries
- Pansies
- Roses
- Squash blossoms
- Marigolds
- Watermelon
- Cucumbers
- Spinach
- Ginger
- Sage
- Corn
- Lemon balm
- Dill
- Fennel
- Garlic
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Cilantro
- Feverfew
- Cinnamon
- Basil
- Geraniums
- Pansy
- Hollyhock
- Lilac
- Peas
- Sunflower seeds
- Violets
- Carrots
- Parsley
- Oregano
- Bee Balm
For this batch, we chose Squash blossoms, Calendula, Basil, Nasturtiums, and Chinese Multicolor Spinach.
How to
Simply harvest what you need and place your herbs and/or flowers in an ice cube tray. Using a pitcher, pour water into each divot. Place in your freezer and leave uninterrupted for 4 hours.
If you choose to use a mold like I did, make sure you have something like a cutting board underneath it. My mold didn’t have much structure and was extremely flimsy. I was unable to carry it to the freezer without extra support.
Full disclosure – I thought the entire flock would love this. Realistically, only about a handful of them made it over to the tray before it melted. I did feed them a basket of cucumbers that were about to go bad an hour before, so this is definitely an experiment I will be repeating.
If you wanted, you could tailor these treats to improve the health of your flock. Oregano is being studied as a natural antibiotic in chickens, sage can act as a natural antioxidant, and mint naturally lowers the body temperature of laying hens if it is ingested.
Even fruits, such as berries, can provide essential nutrients and vitamins that your flock need to flourish.
This was a fun and easy project that was simple enough for my three year old to assist. Not only were we able to give our chickens a treat, but she got to cultivate ownership over the smallest members on our farm.
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