Giving Oregano Oil to Chickens

The reason that I have chickens is to get healthy eggs.  I want to know exactly what my chickens are consuming.  I don’t trust what I read on packaging any more…  that includes egg cartons.

We all want healthy chickens but we don’t want to give them medicated feed, antibiotics, worming tabs, chemicals etc. 

To raise healthy chickens I use Oregano Oil.

Why should I give Oregano Oil to my chickens?

We eat their eggs, so I want my chickens to be chemical, hormone and anti-biotic FREE!

The powerful anti-microbial properties of Oregano Oil will boost their immune systems.  A chicken with a healthy immune system will rarely get sick.

Oil of Oregano is one of the most powerful antibiotics ever studied and a natural antibiotic for your chickens.

It is more than just antibacterial, it’s also a natural anti-oxidant, antiviral, anti-parasitic and anti-fungal. All that’s needed to keep chickens healthy.

How much Oregano Oil should I give my chickens?

I give my chickens one drop of Oregano Oil about twice a month.  I have 6 chickens so that equates to about one drop for 6 chooks.  I say ‘about’ because there are times I have given them a lot more, simply because I felt like it.  This is the amount that I give my chickens.  You are free to do what you want.

How do you give Oregano Oil to chickens?

A drop of oregano oil in their water bowl.  It doesn’t matter that the oil floats on top of the water. 

About once a week I also give my chickens kefir with a sprinkle of linseed or sprouted wheat grains.  Sometimes I add one drop of oregano oil into the kefir and mix it in. 

In case you are curious, I give them kefir because I usually have to much of it and the chooks absolutely love it.  It also gives them great gut bacteria, enzymes, B vitamins, nutrients and helps their immune system. 

The Linseed (also called Flax seed) is for Omega-3 fatty acid.  Because eggs are naturally full of Omega 6, adding omega 3 to the chooks diet gives a good omega 6:3 ratio to the eggs. 

The sprouted wheat is for B & C vitamins.  Sprouting the wheat unlocks the nutritional potential and increases the enzyme content for the chickens.

I do this for healthy eggs as well as health chickens.

Please don’t think that I am advising you on how to feed your chickens.  This is simply an article that includes how I feed mine.  You can feed your chickens whatever you choose.

So, put a bottle of Oregano Oil in your Chicken First Aid kit!

Feeds that contain natural oregano oil:

RopaPharm International

By-O Reg

RopaPoultry

An article about a US chicken farmer who uses oregano oil for healthy chooks

Thymol against Coccidiosis

I must mention a disease that chickens can get called Coccidiosis.

Coccidiosis is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Eimeria and Isospora affecting mainly the intestinal tract of many species of mammals and birds, especially chickens.

Symptoms of coccidiosis in chickens include high mortality rates, intestinal lesions and watery / bloody faeces.

As an alternative to drugs, plant-derived extracts and pure compounds were studied in vitro for parasite inhibition. Among several active samples, thyme extracts and thymol had specific anti-eimerial effects. The study below showed the effectiveness of thymol in relieving the symptoms of the coccidiosis disease when thymol was added to the diet or added with to anticoccidial drug lasalocid.

Read the complete study here: Thieme E-Journals – Planta Medica / Abstract (thieme-connect.de)

There is also another study of Thymol efficacy against coccidiosis in pigeon. Thymol efficacy against coccidiosis in pigeon (Columba livia domestica) – PubMed (nih.gov)

Thyme essential oil has the highest concentration of thymol.  Good quality Thyme essential oils (Thymus vulgaris) will have up to 55% Thymol.