How do I administer antibiotics?

I always syringe it down ... then you know that they have had the full dose.

I mixed mine with a bit of water and then squirted it down their throat, but make sure it on the bottom, the top hole it the air way...just doo 2-3 drops at a time...

actually how old are theses chicks?

You can just give the pill and hold the beak together so the chicken will swallow the pill if it is adult

I always made a wet mash probiotic

2 tsp of dry crubles feed
2 tsp of milk any kind
1 tsp of yoguart
mix good
add the amt of medication
1 tsp of applesauce
put the apple sauce on last and let the bird eat it

what are you medicating for?

also when giving chickens shots of medication do it in the breast meat of the chicken

email any questions

My bluebelle got eggbound yesterday and ended up with a very swollen abdomen and a broken soft shelled egg inside her. Vet sorted her out (oxytocin, calcium, Baytril and anti-inflammatory injections) and then prescribed 1ml Baytril oral every 12 hours for the next seven days.

Have just given her the first dose - soaked into a small piece of bread. Worked a treat. She ate the whole piece in one swallow!

Be sure, after giving Baytril especially (it's such a strong antibiotic) to give probiotics for at least two weeks.  Actually with baytril or any ---floxacin, I like to give probiotics during the treatment as well as every other day for two weeks afterwards.  You can use dairy products (plain yogurt) during Baytril or ---floxacin (cipro) treatments.  You would not want to use yogurt during treatment with ---mycin or ---cycline products, however.  Just FYI.

Baytril is very broad spectrum - so replace the good bacteria it unfortunately kills while it's taking care of the bad.

Glenda's mash recipe is an awesome way of doing it.  Any way that you can get some plain yogurt into them is good - maybe mixed with water and then that soaked into more bread since she seems to like that.

Thanks for the advice threehorses. I already give pro-biotic powder every other day, so will increase that to every day whilst I'm giving the Baytril. I didn't realise it was so strong. (I have only used Tylan before, for mycoplasma.)

I usually mix the pro-biotic powder with a wet mash made from their laying pellets and some filtered fresh milk. (So it appears I was halfway there without even realising it - fab!)

The vet also suggested worming both girls at the same time, and Bella already takes daily prescribed calcium supplements (she has a history of soft shelled egg episodes) so I have a lot of potions and powders to remember during the next week! I think the schedule goes something like this:

8am - bread with 1ml Baytril, and half a cherry tomato smothered in calcium powder (the only way I can get Bella to take the calcium in one hit without dosing our other girl too - she doesn't like tomatoes!)

12pm - wet mash, to include worming meds and pro-biotic powder

8pm - bread with second dose of 1ml Baytril



Blimey - this chicken is getting better care than I would expect from the NHS!

Thanks for the tips re pro-biotics - and sorry to hijack the thread chicksdigit!

Interesting about the calcium supplement; would you mind telling me which one he chose for her, please? 

You know, in The Old Days, using milk products was how bird got supplemented probiotics - through buttermilk etc, dried milk, because they didn't pasteurize back then.  Now even our yogurt would be bacteria free - but it's reinnoculated with beneficial bacteria after the initial pastuerization.

And yes Baytril is a very strong drug, which is why so many vets use it.  There's a flip side to the benefit, however... many avian vets won't culture to make sure that the offending bacteria isn't one of the few that Baytril doesn't effect.

I had a bird who had an infection and was given Baytril.  I asked if the vet cultured -she said "no but we can if you want" while I was leaving.  I took the bird back in, had a culture/sensitivity done, and the results showed that even Baytril wouldn't effect the bacteria the bird had - we had to switch antibiotics mid stream.

My bird was an exotic, so spending the extra on her was a given (tho apparently not even for the vet).  But getting a chicken vet to do that... not likely.  And honestly it's slightly more expensive than many will or can pay.  Not terribly, but.  However if there are multiple deaths you darn sure bet it's cost effective!

Yet I digress.... lol  (as I often do....)