Honey + Thieves/OnGuard worked to Naturally Cure Terrible Respiratory Illness, Cough, & Sneezing

TayInTX

Chirping
May 14, 2019
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50
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I had a hen with a terrible sounding respiratory illness and used the advice and recipe I found buried in an old post and it worked! I’m going to share it here with key words that I hope help it show up when others search.

The Recipe:

1 tsp honey + 2 drops Thieves or Onguard + 1 drop Oregano (optional)

• Give honey & essential oil mixture orally

One of my 9 month old EE hens came down with a frightening respiratory illness. She was doing a high pitched coughing, shaking her head, extending her neck, gasping like she had gapeworms and wheezing so loudly it could be heard from 20 feet away when I went to lock the coop one Sunday night around 8:45 pm. I isolated her in a kennel in the garage and was scared I was going to lose my only blue egg layer. No stores were open and the VetRx I had put on her the day before when I had first caught her sneezing had not seemed to fully relieve her. Her symptoms had escalated frighteningly fast. I scoured BYC and found a recipe for 1 tsp honey plus 2 drops Thieves to make a natural remedy that worked overnight on the poster’s sick hen.

I did not have Thieves oil but I did have OnGuard. I decided to use it and if I needed to make up a Thieves blend, I would. (Thieves is Lemon, Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Cinnamon & Clove oils together. Adding thyme and oregano oils makes “Thieves Plus”.)

The first night I mixed the 1 tsp honey + 2 drops Onguard and administered it orally using a baby spoon. The hen seemed to actually like eating it once I spooned it onto her tongue. The next morning she was doing remarkably better. Her cough had stopped and the wheezing had become almost non-existant. She would still occasionally shake her head. That evening I mixed up 1 tsp honey + 2 drops OnGuard + 1 drop Oregano and dosed her again. I had two more hens that I caught lightly sneezing or head shaking so I dosed them, too.

48 hours later my EE hen has not one single symptom of illness. The other birds I dosed are breathing normally as well. It has been such a great relief!

Note: Even though 1 tsp is 5 ml, getting all that into a hen’s beak is going to take two “doses” if using a baby spoon. The second night I used a syringe and gave her 2 ml/2 cc or about 1/2 of a teaspoon of the honey mixture, slowly dispensed on the tongue and then let her swallow. All the hens I dosed would stop and hold still as soon as the sweet honey touched their tongue. Using a syringe was MUCH easier and dosing at the front of the beak so the hen didn’t choke worked well and was quite easy since the honey was thicker. I used locally produced wildflower honey, not grocery store honey. Molasses might be okay to use, too, especially since NutriDrench is molasses extracts.

I hope this helps others who find themselves with a sick hen late at night!

P.S. When using essential oils on my hens, I have stuck to a general rule of using the “food” oils made from citrus, spices, and herbs. Because these herbs and spices are already found in chicken products (Scratch & Peck Herb Blend, VetRx and others), I felt comfortable using them. I also have used lavender, eucalyptus and Idaho Balsam Fir diluted with no ill affects on my hens. Thieves & OnGuard are blends of oils from citrus, spices & herbs.
 
I had a hen with a terrible sounding respiratory illness and used the advice and recipe I found buried in an old post and it worked! I’m going to share it here with key words that I hope help it show up when others search.

The Recipe:

1 tsp honey + 2 drops Thieves or Onguard + 1 drop Oregano (optional)

• Give honey & essential oil mixture orally

One of my 9 month old EE hens came down with a frightening respiratory illness. She was doing a high pitched coughing, shaking her head, extending her neck, gasping like she had gapeworms and wheezing so loudly it could be heard from 20 feet away when I went to lock the coop one Sunday night around 8:45 pm. I isolated her in a kennel in the garage and was scared I was going to lose my only blue egg layer. No stores were open and the VetRx I had put on her the day before when I had first caught her sneezing had not seemed to fully relieve her. Her symptoms had escalated frighteningly fast. I scoured BYC and found a recipe for 1 tsp honey plus 2 drops Thieves to make a natural remedy that worked overnight on the poster’s sick hen.

I did not have Thieves oil but I did have OnGuard. I decided to use it and if I needed to make up a Thieves blend, I would. (Thieves is Lemon, Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Cinnamon & Clove oils together. Adding thyme and oregano oils makes “Thieves Plus”.)

The first night I mixed the 1 tsp honey + 2 drops Onguard and administered it orally using a baby spoon. The hen seemed to actually like eating it once I spooned it onto her tongue. The next morning she was doing remarkably better. Her cough had stopped and the wheezing had become almost non-existant. She would still occasionally shake her head. That evening I mixed up 1 tsp honey + 2 drops OnGuard + 1 drop Oregano and dosed her again. I had two more hens that I caught lightly sneezing or head shaking so I dosed them, too.

48 hours later my EE hen has not one single symptom of illness. The other birds I dosed are breathing normally as well. It has been such a great relief!

Note: Even though 1 tsp is 5 ml, getting all that into a hen’s beak is going to take two “doses” if using a baby spoon. The second night I used a syringe and gave her 2 ml/2 cc or about 1/2 of a teaspoon of the honey mixture, slowly dispensed on the tongue and then let her swallow. All the hens I dosed would stop and hold still as soon as the sweet honey touched their tongue. Using a syringe was MUCH easier and dosing at the front of the beak so the hen didn’t choke worked well and was quite easy since the honey was thicker. I used locally produced wildflower honey, not grocery store honey. Molasses might be okay to use, too, especially since NutriDrench is molasses extracts.

I hope this helps others who find themselves with a sick hen late at night!

P.S. When using essential oils on my hens, I have stuck to a general rule of using the “food” oils made from citrus, spices, and herbs. Because these herbs and spices are already found in chicken products (Scratch & Peck Herb Blend, VetRx and others), I felt comfortable using them. I also have used lavender, eucalyptus and Idaho Balsam Fir diluted with no ill affects on my hens. Thieves & OnGuard are blends of oils from citrus, spices & herbs.
What exactly was the respiratory illness your hen had?
This is a rather important factor.
There are lots of possible causes that may produce wheezing in chickens. Sometimes it can be a simple as something stuck in the windpipe. I would want to be sure what type of problem I am dealing with before I made the decision to treat.
If for example the problem had been Infectious Bronchitis I doubt a homeopathic remedy would solve the problem.
 
Did this seem to work still?

Yes, it has worked! Two doses, one each day, seemed to cure my hens. It has been 4 days since the last dose and my hens are still symptom free. I’m not sure what exact illness they had. I keep a very clean coop and none of my neighbors have chickens so we enjoy good biosecurity. I doubt it was anything horribly serious but nevertheless, I’m so glad someone posted this remedy because it worked so well for whatever my hens had!
 
If for example the problem had been Infectious Bronchitis I doubt a homeopathic remedy would solve the problem.
What's amazing is this thing called an immune system that actually fight both viruses and bacteria.

Sorry, I don't buy that the essential oils "cured" anything.

My local friend is always raving about Thieves... yet catches more illness than I do... we have different immune systems.

Vet RX... essentially Vick's vapor rub... makes breath feel cooler but really not much else in my experience... MAYBE helps relieve some symptoms while the BODY fight off infection. There's a difference between masking symptoms and actually working.

Though... having symptoms masked can help feel better to get the energy needed for the immune system to continue working hard! Sometimes I take cold meds even though know it isn't actually CURING anything. And guess what... a few days later, I'm well. :confused:

Glad to hear your pullet is feeling better though! :yesss:
 
Some other reliable brands of essential oils are Young Living and Mountain Rose Herbs.
I have always felt that one reason we don't see more validating studies of the effectiveness of herbs is that there is no money in it for the big corporations.
Oregano oil is used as an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic, especially good on respiratory issues.
 
This I agree with, I don’t usually give my birds extra things other then a good Based food and clean water and if I notice some suffering from the heat I offer probiotics and electrolytes and that’s what helps keep immune systems good.however I am curious about this mixture.
What's amazing is this thing called an immune system that actually fight both viruses and bacteria.

Sorry, I don't buy that the essential oils "cured" anything.

My local friend is always raving about Thieves... yet catches more illness than I do... we have different immune systems.

Vet RX... essentially Vick's vapor rub... makes breath feel cooler but really not much else in my experience... MAYBE helps relieve some symptoms while the BODY fight off infection. There's a difference between masking symptoms and actually working.

Though... having symptoms masked can help feel better to get the energy needed for the immune system to continue working hard! Sometimes I take cold meds even though know it isn't actually CURING anything. And guess what... a few days later, I'm well. :confused:

Glad to hear your pullet is feeling better though! :yesss:
 
What's really amazing is that so many drugs are created from natural things, including antibiotics. Sweet huh?

I used herbs and GSE to treat infectious bronchitis in my flock. Sadly, those who have this are often less healthy as older birds and become a weak link in our flocks.
 

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