Essential oils and chickens

[MLPChick]

I'm surprised there is not more info in this thread, I'll keep checking back. I'm new to chickens (live ones anyways) My girls are just over 2 months old at the moment and am looking for preventative uses and possible natural remedies for future issues that come up

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Neem oil (cold pressed seed) is great for scaly leg mites though I use stockholm tar for that more often as it's a potent painkiller and does the job in two or three applications. In Australia they sell neem oil for... I'll get the bottle and read off it... "psoriasis, eczema, cold sores, skin ulcers, sun spots, ring worm, athletes foot, fungal infections, acne, fleas, ticks, summer itch, hot spots, skin irritations, warts, moles" --- and I've used it successfully to save my cat from dying from severe blue pigeon lice infestation; her whole face was a scab. It's not recommended for pregnant women, though.

Many oils are great applied directly for certain things, but I'm not too familiar with using essential oils, though some swear by coconut oil for wounds and infections. Herbs naturally contain essential oils so if you're using them you're already applying them whether internally or externally. Juliette de Bairacli Levy is a great author to look up for herbal properties and cures, I follow her teachings with great success.

I use cold pressed extra virgin olive oil as one of my main assaults on any virus or problem, almost, lol. I give it as a laxative drench (made laxative just by giving a more than they need, not that it makes them do runny poops, just hurries it up and thereby dislodges lots of harmful microbes, parasites, etc and of course olive oil's got other medicinal properties too). I've never had an egg bound hen and all my hens have had diets high in natural oils as I avoid overprocessed feed. One other thing I thought of: I had a hen who I got from a breeder who wasn't a good breeder, really. Anyway she lived with a constant case of enteritis. She was never actually infected, just constantly bloated from it. I think the reason it didn't infect was because I always kept her, like my other chooks, on a diet that included raw garlic. Kelp's great too.

 

[chooks4life]

Whoa, a broken and ROTTEN egg... Nasty! Poor girl!

I would keep that one on a regular diet involving garlic to clean her blood in that case. Onion's good too. It supports their liver as well.

Quote: I'd just use the garlic bought at the shops, raw, I'd peel it and mince or crush it before feeding; you can usually get dried granulated garlic or minced garlic in tubs or bottles at feed bards/produce stores/wherever you get pet or livestock supplies, same with the kelp. Don't know where you'd get that in America as I'm an Australian, but I don't know where you are... The kelp comes granulated or powdered and you can also get that in health food shops but it's cheaper to get it in animal feed stores, granulated. It costs $6 a kilo here and a kilo lasts a very long time.

Best wishes. Good to hear your hen's doing better. She will probably need some TLC to maintain that though. Kelp is an endocrinal regulator, so will get her hormones working as they should, which is important in all things not just egg laying. Our entire bodies run on hormones, whereas common facts passed around usually make it sound like hormones are only relevant to the sexual organs, and growing.

 

[Cottage Rose]

I haven't read through all the comments yet but yes you can use essential oils on animals!

Many of you may be familiar with Vet Rx which is essential oils! Just research it first on the internet.
Make sure to buy quality oils because some cheaper brands are not good quality.
Even some "therauputic grade" essential oils can be poor quality so you may not get the results you were hoping for. I would recommend doTERRA, Young or Sparks Naturals.
I'm a BIG fan of E.O. and have cured many health ailments using them and enjoy their many uses around the house and farm for all natural non-toxic cleaning products and pest control. Mice and bugs hate peppermint oil.

 

[misschickenlittle]

Whoot!!!! I am glad to see that!!!
I love Young Living oils!!!!

 

[CMV]

Tea tree oil in its concentrated form should never be used on poultry and small animals. It can be deadly if ingested in even the smallest amounts.

 

[Crittercuddler]

The Animal Desk Reference by Melissa Shelton DVM has some information on birds. It says that chickens are more tolerant to EOs. I'm new to chickens so I can't say much.

 

[showmesilkies]

I use a variety of essential oils and naturals for my flocks. A fox attacked this Summer and tore into one of my Brabanter hens. Her back was shredded with open wounds. I put her into solidarity and treated her with Garlic water, coconut oil and cleaned the wound with witch hazel. Given the severity of wound I chose to use Blu-Kote 2x a day too. I really did not expect her to make it but she did and is rejoicing being back with her flock after a two month treatment.

 

[hennible]

Glad I found this thread. I will be trying out the oils next time I have cause to. Also I think I may add some herbs to the nesting boxes as well, as a preventive measure.

 

[AnniesCafe]

I just had a chick that was pecked until his tissue and tendons were showing on his neck. I googled essential oils and chickens and read what I found. It was pretty gory, this chick is only about 6 inches tall, with feathers, but not flying yet. I cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide as suggested, and then took about 1 to 2 drops lavender oil in about 1/2 to 1 cup warm water and dobbed it on it last night. It was obviously in pain, but relaxed in about a minute of using the lavender oil. This morning he could not move his head really well, but did the lavender oil again on all its neck and YEAH!!!! at lunch it was eating and holding his head up and drinking and pooping!!

Thank you so much! I love my oils!!