How to administer Panacur orally using syringe

[Kay Kew]

I am looking for advice on a good technique for administering oral medication to bantam hens who are not used to being handled at all. I am catching them by lifting them off their roosting perches at night, putting them in boxes and dosing them using a syringe in the morning. My problem is that it is very hard to get them to open their beaks so that the syringe can be put in far enough. I wrap them in a towel too. I have had someone to help today, but will have to manage single handed soon! Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

It helps to open the beak by grasping the wattles or or below the beak, squirting in a drop or two at a time, then releasing the wattles with each drop to let them swallow. Panacur (fenbendazole) doseage is 1/4 ml per pound of weight, given orally for 3-5 days to get the most difficult worms.

 

[Kay Kew]

Thanks very much for that helpful information. I tried that method and it seems to help alright. By the way, I seem to have set up two threads with the same title, because when I submitted the first one, I thought it hadn't gone through as I hadn't logged in or something, so maybe the two could be amalgamated?? Apologies! As I mentioned in a reply on the other version of the thread, I was a bit concerned about getting some of the Panacur into the trachea by mistake, and your suggestion of putting the dose in a couple of drops at a time seems like a very good one. They get 0.4ml Panacur each per dose over 5 consecutive days. Thanks again.