chickens keep dying from dehydration

[SilkieCanada]

Thats what the pathology report keeps saying. Whenever I add denagard to the water , I see them drinking but there is always one chicken or two that die during the monthly prevention cycle. Same happens with pretty much anything I add to the water. The odd bird wont drink it and then I find them dead after a few days or a week. How can I prevent this but still get the important drugs into them like denagard?

 

[welasharon]

Why are you giving them denegard?

 

[speckledhen]

So, you've had CRD in your flock and you're giving them Denagard as a monthly treatment to prevent a relapse? I do want you to realize that even giving that doesn't keep them from being carriers of the disease-want to make sure you do know that. If they aren't drinking the water with the meds, could be the meds are doing more harm than good.

 

[SilkieCanada]

As far as I know none of my birds have myco. Every time one dies I get them checked and its always negative. I give them denagard to prevent mycoplasma from wild birds or just from someone coming over with contamination. Myco is far too common for me to take a chance with it.

But every time one dies its around the same time I have something added to the water. Maybe they dont like the bitter taste? If I put sugar in the water can that help? I dont see any birds with symptoms of dehydration. Like the one that died today, was active in the morning and I found him later just sitting around stiff. I brought him inside and he drank tons of untreated water but died within the hour. He literally went from acting normal, to being dead within 5 hours. And dehydration is always the answer from the necropsy.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Giving your birds denagard as a preventative "just in case" doesnt make sense. You should only give them denagard when you highly suspect they are infected with the disease or have been tested positive. The odds of them getting MG from wild birds is slim. More likely they would get MG from you introducing an infected bird or carrying the disease on your hands, clothing and/or shoes. As far as anyone else goes...you have control over who visits your property and who gets near your birds. It's easy to say "NO."
Your birds are dying of thirst as evidenced by the necrospy result. Discard the denagard treated water and give them regular freahwater.
If your birds DO become infected with MG or MS, you give them a preventative dose for only 3 days a month, 8cc per gallon of water. The treated water is very bitter as you know, they probably wernt drinking it.

 

[SilkieCanada]

Its not just denagard its anything I add to the water. Like when I was treating for cocci I gave them amprol in the water. I see the water levels going down so some birds are drinking but some aren't. And a bird turns up dead from dehydration. I cant tell who is and who isn't drinking until its too late. My question is how can I get them to drink the medicated water? Are there any tricks people use?

 

[MetalSmitten]

i guess if you really needed to medicate them and didn't want to lose any that refuse to drink medicated water, you could always dose them orally once a night instead. kind of annoying, but i don't see much other option...

 

[SilkieCanada]

Quote:
Interesting. How would that work with drugs that say I have to add them to a gallon of water? How do I know how much to give them individually if I use a syringe?

 

[OregonChickenGal]

Quote:
Giving your birds denagard as a preventative "just in case" doesnt make sense. You should only give them denagard when you highly suspect they are infected with the disease or have been tested positive. The odds of them getting MG from wild birds is slim. More likely they would get MG from you introducing an infected bird or carrying the disease on your hands, clothing and/or shoes. As far as anyone else goes...you have control over who visits your property and who gets near your birds. It's easy to say "NO."
Your birds are dying of thirst as evidenced by the necrospy result. Discard the denagard treated water and give them regular freahwater.
If your birds DO become infected with MG or MS, you give them a preventative dose for only 3 days a month, 8cc per gallon of water. The treated water is very bitter as you know, they probably wernt drinking it.

X2 !!!!!

 

[MetalSmitten]

Quote:
you'd have to do the math or look up the individual dosage. honestly, putting it in the water isn't very accurate anyway, as you have experienced some chickens will drink more or less of it and therefore get different doses anyway. you might be better off calling the drug manufacturer and asking, both to find the dosage and to make sure it's safe to give it undiluted. but i'm not familiar with your chickens or this drug, so i really couldn't say beyond that.