Antibiotics for Chicks

[jamieneenah]

HI,

I have a mix of Cornish and several other varieties from tractor supply. They told me to put antibiotics in there water (1 teaspoon a gallon) (terramycian /oxymycilliam) for the first week. We have added additional birds to the group several times, so the oldest birds have all had antibiotics for close to 3 weeks now, and the youngest birds are over a week now.

I tried now mixing in any antibiotics yesterday, and within 8 hours there was sneezing and loose stools. I added the antibiotics back in and the sneezing is virtually gone and stools seem back to normal.

Any ideas how I should proceed? These are my meat birds and I want to have them off antibiotics as long as I can before processing.

Thanks
Jamie
Neenah, WI

p.s. They are inside. I keep the bedding dry, I stir up the bedding / add new bedding / remove damp bedding / add DE, once to twice twice a day. The birds act fine and look to be in excellent health.

 

[mypicklebird]

Many things about this bother me
1) adding antibiotics to the water on recommendation from tractor supply- why? are they intentionally selling sick birds?
2) you need to start quarantining new birds before adding them to an existing flock- you may have introduced 1 or many infectious diseases to the first group
3) if they are acting fine and are in excellent health- why give antibiotics?
4) sneezing is not a indication for antibiotics, neither is diarrhea
5) If you want to know what infectious organism(s) you are dealing with, consider dispatching one and sending it to your state lab for testing.
6) trying to avoid using antibiotics for mild conditions is a good idea, overuse of antibiotics- and antibiotics entering the food chain and environment is a big problem in this world.

 

[speckledhen]

TSC is famous for that recommendation and it's a BAD one! Never give antibiotics to healthy chicks. TSC is the last place anyone should get advice about caring for chicks, IMO.

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
I was concerned about the idea also, and thought it was a lot better to not use them for numberous reasons. However, 2 different people at TSC that raise chickens both said it was a good idea and I thought well if it is only for 5 days or so then I guess it isnt a big deal.

Then when I stoped them I saw sneezeing and loose stools. Maybe that isnt a problem?

I realize now I made mistakes such as not quarentining them. I also should know better than to listen to someone that has some chickens that works at TSC... But I was new to this and nervous.

So do I just DC the antibiotics and monitor and make sure nothing worse that sneezeing and loose stools develops?

Thankd
Jamie
Neenahwi

 

[briteday]

Giving antibiotics destroys any bad bacteria, but also destroys good bacteria in the gut. So since you had been giving meds, then stopped, the birds don't really have any "normal flora" left in their gut to process food...= loose stools. I would try giving some probiotics or simply good yogurt. Look for the organic brands as they tend to have mmore variety of live organisms in their brew.