Antibiotics Doxycycline question

[dlm]

I sent a dead hen in for a necropsy. Results came back as salpingitis. I naively bought doxycycline 20% and have already treated my entire flock with with it for 7 days. But now im reading that I shouldn't have done that. I know there is a lengthy egg withdrawal period and that its not even approved for egg laying hens. Ugh! Can I ever safely eat the eggs again?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I sent a dead hen in for a necropsy. Results came back as salpingitis. I naively bought doxycycline 20% and have already treated my entire flock with with it for 7 days. But now im reading that I shouldn't have done that. I know there is a lengthy egg withdrawal period and that its not even approved for egg laying hens. Ugh! Can I ever safely eat the eggs again?

You're right, Doxycycline is not USDA approved for use in poultry.
https://farad.org/pdf/122015EggResidue.pdf

Studies are referenced in the above Farad article, but you can also do a Google or Google Scholar search to find more information about residues relating to Doxycycline.

One study reference in the Farad article can be found here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02652039109373956

I can't say if you can safely eat the eggs again, I don't know you, what your health is, what you are allergic to, etc. If there's still a concern after you observe a withdrawal period, consult your personal physician.

 

[Eggcessive]

Doxycycline is in the tetracycline family, and used more for respiratory diseases (mycoplasma/MG.) I don’t recommend it because of the long egg withdrawal time. For reproductive infections, I would use either amoxicillin or enrofloxacin, and only treat the one chicken. It is never a good idea to treat a whole flock with antibiotics, but just the ones with infection. Use an egg withdrawal of at least 3 weeks. No antibiotics except Tylosin are approved for chickens.