Essential Oils

[Melodychick]

Has anybody tried this?
https://www.mypetchicken.com/catalo...-Oregano-Oil-Supplement-250-500-ml-p1374.aspx

 

[ashleejo]

Make sure to use glass instead of plastic if you are going to use EO. Oregano is a hot oil and will melt the plastic...

Personal experience

I had thought about that and honestly their plastic watering jugs are the only reason I haven't done it yet. I thought about putting a glass dish of some kind out with the oregano water for just part of the day but I don't know if that's the best option. Do you think there are places that sell glass watering containers for poultry?

 

[Kiki]

I had thought about that and honestly their plastic watering jugs are the only reason I haven't done it yet. I thought about putting a glass dish of some kind out with the oregano water for just part of the day but I don't know if that's the best option. Do you think there are places that sell glass watering containers for poultry?

You don't necessarily have to use a "chicken" waterer.
A glass dish would work.

 

[Ebarnes-21]

Ok maybe I can add a bit to this as a herbalist.

EOs, assuming they are the real, therapeutic grade EOs, can be taken internally just fine, IF the herb they are made from is actually edible, and IF you keep to the right dosage.

For instance, Oregano is edible, as an Herb. It can be used to flavour food, just a sprinkle.

It takes 100g of herb to produce 1ml of essential oil. 100g of herb is about a litre (quart) of dried herb such as you would cook with! No-one could ever eat so much oregano in one sitting. No-one could take a ml of the oil either ... it is very strong ... but they could take a drop, which is the equivalent of 5g (about 2 tablespoons of dry herb).

If for argument sake someone took 10 drops, you're looking at about 2 cups of herb. A massive dose, a very dangerous dose, particularly if you are pregnant.

You couldn't ever really hurt yourself by eating oregano as an herb in food. If you use too much, you tend to stop eating and feel very sick. Even for a pregnant woman to take enough to harm the child is unlikely.

But, with an essential oil it is very easy to take an overdose simply because the dose is so small. A few drops would burn your stomach, as a potent antibiotic it would wipe out your gut flora, and if you're pregnant DON'T EVEN GO THERE.

Now using it for chickens. Very safe ... in the appropriate dosage. One of the main feed brands here in NZ actually adds Oregano Oil to their pellets! They add it to their chick starter too, it allows them to reduce the levels of amprolium while still protecting the chicks.

Many studies have been done on the efficiency of using Oregano oil in chicken feed, on a commercial basis, instead of antibiotics. There have been some amazing results shown, and no ill effects at all.

I've never heard of adding it to water ... oil and water don't mix horrifically well, yes I have tried Oregano EO in water and it floats on top. If some poor chicken comes along and drinks from the surface she's going to burn her little tongue!
This is why the feed companies and farmers add it to the pellets.

You can use alcohol to mix EO with water however. Add your EO, 10 drops to about a tsp of strong vodka or similar, shake it up, then add that to your appropriate volume of water (about 2 gallons, as worked out below).

Don't worry a tsp of alcohol over that much water isn't going to get your chickens falling down drunk, and it won't effect their health. It would be like one of us having1/2 tsp of vodka a day, as a single drop every half hour, in a glass of water. You wouldn't even know it.

Now the quantity used commercially is 50-100mg/kg of the dry ration. Essential oils generally are around 20mg per drop. This would mean 2.5-5 drops per kg dry feed. This would be easy enough to mix into a damp feed ration, but tough to mix into dry pellets if that is your feeding regime.

To give the birds the same dose in their water, at a typical consumption of 2 cups water and 200g of feed per hen per day, which is what mine do, you're looking for 1-2 drops per litre of water. That would be 4.5-9 drops per gallon. Start at the bottom and work up.

Water intake can vary more than feed of course ... in a heat wave they might drink twice that, in winter less than half. So watch that too.

 

[ashleejo]

Ok maybe I can add a bit to this as a herbalist.

EOs, assuming they are the real, therapeutic grade EOs, can be taken internally just fine, IF the herb they are made from is actually edible, and IF you keep to the right dosage.

For instance, Oregano is edible, as an Herb. It can be used to flavour food, just a sprinkle.

It takes 100g of herb to produce 1ml of essential oil. 100g of herb is about a litre (quart) of dried herb such as you would cook with! No-one could ever eat so much oregano in one sitting. No-one could take a ml of the oil either ... it is very strong ... but they could take a drop, which is the equivalent of 5g (about 2 tablespoons of dry herb).

If for argument sake someone took 10 drops, you're looking at about 2 cups of herb. A massive dose, a very dangerous dose, particularly if you are pregnant.

You couldn't ever really hurt yourself by eating oregano as an herb in food. If you use too much, you tend to stop eating and feel very sick. Even for a pregnant woman to take enough to harm the child is unlikely.

But, with an essential oil it is very easy to take an overdose simply because the dose is so small. A few drops would burn your stomach, as a potent antibiotic it would wipe out your gut flora, and if you're pregnant DON'T EVEN GO THERE.

Now using it for chickens. Very safe ... in the appropriate dosage. One of the main feed brands here in NZ actually adds Oregano Oil to their pellets! They add it to their chick starter too, it allows them to reduce the levels of amprolium while still protecting the chicks.

Many studies have been done on the efficiency of using Oregano oil in chicken feed, on a commercial basis, instead of antibiotics. There have been some amazing results shown, and no ill effects at all.

I've never heard of adding it to water ... oil and water don't mix horrifically well, yes I have tried Oregano EO in water and it floats on top. If some poor chicken comes along and drinks from the surface she's going to burn her little tongue!
This is why the feed companies and farmers add it to the pellets.

You can use alcohol to mix EO with water however. Add your EO, 10 drops to about a tsp of strong vodka or similar, shake it up, then add that to your appropriate volume of water (about 2 gallons, as worked out below).

Don't worry a tsp of alcohol over that much water isn't going to get your chickens falling down drunk, and it won't effect their health. It would be like one of us having1/2 tsp of vodka a day, as a single drop every half hour, in a glass of water. You wouldn't even know it.

Now the quantity used commercially is 50-100mg/kg of the dry ration. Essential oils generally are around 20mg per drop. This would mean 2.5-5 drops per kg dry feed. This would be easy enough to mix into a damp feed ration, but tough to mix into dry pellets if that is your feeding regime.

To give the birds the same dose in their water, at a typical consumption of 2 cups water and 200g of feed per hen per day, which is what mine do, you're looking for 1-2 drops per litre of water. That would be 4.5-9 drops per gallon. Start at the bottom and work up.

Water intake can vary more than feed of course ... in a heat wave they might drink twice that, in winter less than half. So watch that too.

GREAT INFO! Thanks! I'm POSITIVE that my oils are therapeutic grade and I'm more than comfortable using them internally.