Colloidal Silver Dosage

[chicken vet girl]

I am considering using colloidal silver on my chicken. She has yellow bacteria in her throat, getting progressively worse. I had a choanal swab sent to the lab for antibiotic susceptibility, and treated accordingly. She made some improvement, then started getting worse again. She is now having trouble eating. I have done a lot of research on colloidal silver. I am considering treating her with it as a last resort.

Here is some research I have found:

"This study provided that, its (more than 4 ppm) harmful effect on the liver cells, especially in broilers, and recommended the use of nanosilver as anti micro-bial agent in poultry industry with caution and that the necessary conditions should be observed."
https://www.researchgate.net/public...articles_in_Poultry_Production_Review_Article

"This research was carried out on 240 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) in a completely randomized design (CRD) in four treatments at 0 (control), 4, 8 and 12-ppm levels of silver nanoparticles that was added daily to drinking water with four repetitions within 16 separate cages and 15 birds in each pen. Factors such as temperature, light, water, ventilation, nutrition and vaccination were similar for all treatments. Nanosilver used in this study was nanocid (Nanocid L2000) containing 4000 ppm per liter silver nano-particles with average size of 18 nm." "This study shows its (more than 4 ppm) harmful effect on the liver cells, especially in broilers, and recommended the use of nanosilver as anti microbial agent in poultry industry with caution and that the necessary conditions should be observed."
https://academicjournals.org/article/article1380990460_Loghman et al.pdf

"Antibacterial and antiseptic effects of silver ion in preventing infection with coli forms, staphylococcus, and streptococcus have been proven in previous studies [26–29]. Silver nanoparticles can destroy many kinds of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, and it is recommended that it can be used in the treatment of certain viral diseases in animals like Influenza and Newcastle [30]. However, extended and excessive exposure to the silver nanoparticles, like many other drugs, has side effects and pathologic effect on living tissues."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3826293/#B26

"most bird lovers either add a teaspoonful or two of colloidal silver to their bird’s drinking water, for preventive purposes. Or, if the bird is already sick, they might give it 1 cc of colloidal silver, up to three times a day, orally, using an eyedropper or a plastic syringe."
https://thesilveredge.com/colloidal...ets-cockatiels-pigeons-ducks-and-other-birds/

"I came home yesterday to a sneezing and wheezing chicken. I quickly removed her and administered 1 cc of colloidal silver 20 ppm. I also soaked a small piece of bread with olive oil and 3 drops of the silver because I was not sure exactly how much of the 1 cc I had gotten down her as she was fighting me. Within a hour she was no longer wheezing. Before bedtime I gave her another 1 cc of the silver with the help of hubby so I was sure I had gotten it down her. She was confined to a large wire dog crate away from the other chickens overnight. In the morning she was fine and this afternoon I returned her to the coop with the other hens."
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...y-infection-in-chickens.827344/#post-12068785

"I rescued 4 black sexlinks and one of them started sneezing with congestion right after releasing them from quarentine. As a newbie chicken mom, I was scared she had infected the whole flock. I believe in not using antibiotics as less as possible...so, I grabbed my silver shield, added 2 teaspoons to a gallon of their water plus 2 teaspoons of avc for 5 days and her sneezes and congestion was totally gone and has not returned!"
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/colloidal-silver-for-chickens.111548/#post-11827660

"Jade Woodhouse (Organic, Happy Healthy Chooks, Natural Backyard Chook Keeping) is my source for using colloidal silver as a preventive medicine for chicks. She recommends: "on day 7, add one lid of colloidal silver to their drinking water. Continue to do this every week until they are 6 weeks old. Also add kelp and molasses to their drinking water on a weekly basis." She goes on to add other detail about herbs and worm treatment. (You can order her book online - self published and inexpensive). As Jade does not specify the size of drinker she uses, I only used one drop per chick in a 1 litre drinker."
http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7625

"I now have a chocolate Wyandotte Bantum who now has a virus. She's been on poly - tonine a complex for about a week. Her symptoms were watery eye.. bubbles coming out. Cough .. sneezing. Then I remembered what I was told. Colloidal silver. So now I've stopped the vitamins, and she will only get colloidal silver. I poured 60 ml's of distilled water (distilled is water that's been boiled and cooled).. for those that didn't know. And I gave her 1 ml or 1 cc of colloidal silver."
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-colloidial-silver-safe-for-chickens.217223/page-3

"10 PPM means in one liter of water there is 10 milligrams of total silver content. True colloidal silvertherefore refers to the percentage of silver in the form of nanoparticles being the majority of the total silver concentration."
http://www.silver-colloids.com/Pubs/truecolloidalsilver.html

My question is how should I give this to my chicken. In her drinking water or dosed orally. As I understand it, 4 ppm is the strength I should use. Exactly how do I dose that?

 

[FarmerGirl101]

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

In my opinion (and it’s only an opinion) your over thinking it.
I’ve used colloidal silver on my chickens repeatedly. I have 30ppm I bought from Amazon.
When I had someone with a sneeze I put a drop on each nare and let it run down their sinuses.
I had a hen with a cough and put CS in a shot glass and let her get a drink.
It was my understanding that the CS needs to touch what your trying to kill off. If it’s a virus or bacteria or fungi.
If you can get pictures of her throat and post them more help may be offered.
“Yellow bacteria” could be wet pox, canker or even thrush.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I was thinking possible "wet" pox ... Thank you FlyingNunFarm for the info on Colloidal Silver

 

[chicken vet girl]

No, she does not have wet pox, canker or thrush. The lab test showed the exact bacteria(s), there were several, one was e. coli. I don't recall the rest, but will look at the test results again. My vet said it is bacteria that is normally in the body, but had overgrown. I use the antibiotic that the lab test showed the bacteria's were susceptible to. 2 ml SMZ-TMP daily for 10 days. She had some improvement, but more bacteria came back.

I had another chicken this happened to and my vet found that when the antibiotic killed off one bacteria, a different bacteria grew that was not susceptible to the same antibiotic. Another lab test would show that.

So 2 questions... Why are my chickens having natural bacteria overgrow. I have had to treat almost half the flock by now. You would give 4 ppm colloidal straight to her? How much and how often? I trying to be careful that in the process of curing her of the bacteria, she doesn't get internal organs damaged.

Please anyone who has used colloidal silver... I need advise on dosage!

 

[chicken vet girl]

@Hen Pen Jem

 

[coach723]

I've used it, not an expert in any way. I've used up to 500 PPM concentration, I have seen no ill effects. I generally just guess, based on how seriously sick a bird is. I've put 1 - 2 tsp to a gallon of water, I've given it direct orally up to 1cc two or three times a day. Whether it works or not, I can't really attest too since it was not the only thing being done at the time, I'm usually using it in conjunction with other things treating and/or trying to boost the immune system. I've never had a bird turn blue (argyria), never had evidence of damage to liver or kidneys, I think you would have to do very large amounts for a sustained period of time for that to happen, but if a bird was already having liver or kidney issues that could be different. I gave it in conjunction with antibiotics attempting to treat salpiingitis, that treatment was not successful for that particular infection. Since your birds have been on antibiotics I would try putting them on probiotics also for a while, to help get the 'good' bacteria back in balance, and it may help with the overgrowth of the bad, but will take some time. Once things get out of whack, for whatever reason, it can take some time for things to get back in balance.
If the vet thinks this is bacterial vs viral (some virus's can weaken the immune system leaving them susceptible to other stuff), then I would look at the feed also, maybe an ingredient in your feed is giving your birds some difficulty with digestion which could contribute to the problem (it does happen that some birds don't do well on some feeds), or something environmental. Try to think out of the box and look around with an open mind.
http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2015/03/probiotics-for-chickens.html

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greetings chicken vet girl,

The research, use, and dosage of colloidal silver for animals, is probably one of the most exasperating and confusing subjects!

In my opinion, if a keeper decides they want to try colloidal silver, it's probably because they are desperate to help their chicken. You've done a lot of research, as I did. I started using colloidal silver, in desperation as well. It's a debatable subject, but, I am not going to debate about it. I can only tell you, it is effective in healing many things. However, it is no replacement for an appropriate antibiotic.

I have been using colloidal silver for at least 3 years. I use it for all of my animals. I don't use it as a supplement. It is a treatment, just like any medicine.

As far as toxicity, I have never seen a silver chicken running around. But, one should always assume there is a possibility for toxicity, in over use or excessive amounts. I use CS along with Doxycycline, to boost the antibiotic effectiveness, and have seen no ill effects. It has improved the quality of life, for hens diagnosed with tumors of the oviduct, and internal layers by staving off infection. It eradicates external yeast in two weeks. It heals eye infections, such as cherry eye in dogs. I recently used, it successfully, on my neighbors horse, for conjunctivitis. I treat bumble foot infections with it, too.

There is no documented scientific therapeutic dosage, for adult chickens.

But, here is what I use:

1100 ppm, colloidal silver. (higher concentration, means less is needed, bottle lasts longer)

• .3 mL (full strength 1100 ppm), one time dose, orally for the first day only, of a severe illness.
• For chicken that is not drinking, I dilute 2 drops of 1100 ppm, in 10 centiliters of water, I draw 2 mL into a syringe and give the chicken .5 to 2 mL, daily, with antibiotic administration. Caution - even CS water can aspirate the chicken.
• If the chicken is drinking, 10 drops (full strength 1100 ppm) per gallon of drinking water, for the duration of antibiotic course, usually 10 days.

More Notes:
Colloidal Silver comes in different strengths, 10 to 40 ppm are the most common. You can use the 10 ppm on a hen. It's very diluted, you can give a drop or two to the hen. That should be effective on a hen. But, a 30 or 40 ppm, would be better for external applications.

The recommended dosage for people using a 40 ppm colloidal silver, is 1.25-2.25 mL, daily. And that's a nutritional dose.

Because a dosage for animals is still not established. I take into account that a 6 pound hen is only 4% the weight of an average, adult human. Like all medications, colloidal silver can be over used. So it is important, to try and use a proportionate dosage, in relation to the size of the animal.

I don't use the CS as an antibiotic alternative, for internal infections. I have tried it, and much time was lost for the sick hen, with very little improvement. For external wounds and minor infections, it can be used alone. But here again, combining it with another medicine, can achieve better results. I am also cautious of the potential for toxicity, if a hen is on a long term care regimen. For instance, hens with tumors or internal laying. Their treatment can extend for months. But, this would also be excellent for a hen with salpingitis or suspected egg yolk peritonitis, along with an antibiotic.


These are my thoughts and notes on the use of Colloidal Silver for animals, specifically chickens.

I hope I have been helpful.

God Bless

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

No, she does not have wet pox, canker or thrush. The lab test showed the exact bacteria(s), there were several, one was e. coli. I don't recall the rest, but will look at the test results again. My vet said it is bacteria that is normally in the body, but had overgrown. I use the antibiotic that the lab test showed the bacteria's were susceptible to. 2 ml SMZ-TMP daily for 10 days. She had some improvement, but more bacteria came back.

I had another chicken this happened to and my vet found that when the antibiotic killed off one bacteria, a different bacteria grew that was not susceptible to the same antibiotic. Another lab test would show that.

So 2 questions... Why are my chickens having natural bacteria overgrow. I have had to treat almost half the flock by now. You would give 4 ppm colloidal straight to her? How much and how often? I trying to be careful that in the process of curing her of the bacteria, she doesn't get internal organs damaged.

Please anyone who has used colloidal silver... I need advise on dosage!

I have encountered this scenario, where bacteria commonly found in a chicken and it's environment, grow out of control.

This usually happens when the chicken's immune system is compromised by cancer/tumors or some other critical condition.

In order to give the chicken it's best chance for recovery, I do the following, as part of the treatment regimen and supportive care:

• Boost the immune system by adding echinacea or ashwaganda herb to the feed, special little meals, or water (use a tea).
• In severe cases, add 1,000 mg. vitamin C to the water, (crush a tablet, then add to water).
• If the urates are yellow, administer .3 mL Liquid Hepato for liver support (Milk Thistle and B vitamins), once daily, or twice for critically ill.

God Bless

 

[chicken vet girl]

I have encountered this scenario, where bacteria commonly found in a chicken and it's environment, grow out of control.

This usually happens when the chicken's immune system is compromised by cancer/tumors or some other critical condition.

I have been having flock wide incidents. Both with roosters and hens or various ages, so I'm not sure how it could be internal tumors. I want to find out what is causing these health problems with bacteria overgrowth. Is there any reason you can think of?

So you wouldn't recommend internal use of colloidal silver to treat bacterial infections? The lab tested for antibiotic susceptibility to the bacteria. I treated with the recommend antibiotic, but my chicken did not make a full recovery. I am not sure what options I have left. I'd appreciate any advise.