Antibiotics / egg laying

[pickledpurls]

One of my Australorps punctured her foot a few weeks ago. I tried to tend it at home but her foot was not healing. It began to swell up really bad so I took her to the local vet. They had to do surgery and open up the bottom of her foot to clean out the abscess.

The long and short of this is she is at home now in a crate, on antibiotics and will be segregated from the other two for about 2 weeks. So, I have questions.

a) she is on Amoxicillin, does anyone know how long till we can use the eggs?

b) I was thinking of putting her crate outside on the grass, with the bottom tray off so her feet can be on the grass (figure softer on her surgical site than the tray), she can peck at the grass and she can stay bonded with the other two hens. Her foot is bandaged up right now but I am thinking she can't do much damage on the grass in a crate. What do you think?


Also, unrelated: Another hen has decided to go broody. I have tried: setting her up in a crate for air flow, dunking in the cold water, moving her repeatedly. Nothing working so far. Any ideas?

 

[sumi]

Amoxiccilin withdrawal is from 2-7 days, depending on the type and dosage, so unless she's on any other meds as well, I'd say discard the eggs for a week after she got her last dose of medicine.

I think she'll enjoy being out on the grass, but make sure her bandage stays clean and dry and watch she doesn't get tempted to start scratching in the dirt!

On your broody: if she's a stubborn broody give her an egg or 3 to hatch? The crate usually works quite well, but they need to be in there for about 3-4 days on average, before they give up.