The effects of essential oils on pH, pathogens, and volatile fatty acids (VFA) in two poultry litters were investigated through a lab study. Essential oil-added poultry litters were randomly divided to two groups: control (200 g poultry litter) and Treatment (50 g thymol/Briefly, 200 g broiler litter was treated with or without 50 g thymol (Control and T1, respectively; 1 groups) and 200 g duck litter was treated with or without 50 g carvacrol (Control and T2, respectively; 2 group). Adding thymol to broiler litter increased the pH, reduced pathogens, and did not affect VFA. Interestingly, adding carvacrol slightly reduced the pH of duck litter, but had no significant effect on reducing pathogens and VFA. This difference is probably because the essential oil used and the properties of the two litters are different. In addition, pH was thought to control the odor generated from the litter, but this has not been proven. Further field studies should focus on clarifying this point.