day one with Denegard... wanted to share my experience

[top of the hill]

well, I decided to go ahead and give the girls a preventative dose of Denegard. I purchased it from QC supply a few weeks ago and been holding off because I am still not sure their sneezing is not environmental. They otherwise seem healthy, no other symptoms that I've noticed. There is plenty of coop ventalation, but still, it gets dusty when I rake the pine shavings (until it settles again).

The major factor that pushed me to go ahead was that my husband was sick last weekend and this morning I woke up with a cold. since I am the one who changes water and food in the mornng, I figured it would be good to administer, just in case. Don't need my ladies picking up what we've got (if thats even possible) and I read on BYC that you can still eat the eggs, so we'll have a few for our friends coming into town this weekend (only 1 girl laying so far)!

Thought I would share my experience in case anyone out in BYC land is in my shoes and not sure what to do, and because the directions on the bottle are quite intimidating. With some math skills provided by my DH, here is what we came up with:

We have a 2 gallon waterer of which I added 1oz Denegard (1 shot glass - just be sure you don't use the extra large shot glass that lives in the back of the liquor cabinet, lol!) I also added 1oz of local honey (read alot about Denegard on BYC and it was recommended - apparently Denegard is quite bitter)

Hopefully they are happy, healthy and actually drinking the water! I will update you on the progress (if any)

cheers!

 

[chicmom]

Hi! I use denegard too. I put brown sugar in the drinking water to offset the bitterness. I have one gallon waterers and I put 1 TBSP in plus a couple of drops extra (the TBSP is slightly less than 16ccs). I read to use 8ccs for preventative, and 16ccs for treatment.

I'm also treating a sneezing flock. Anyhow, the ladies didn't want to drink the water, even if I put sugar in it, so I switched to brown sugar, which seems to be acceptable to them.

I've got a chicken that has sneezed ever since she was a little pullet. Otherwise she seems fine. And then a bantam I have just started acting like she's got a head cold! Sneezing and just tired looking. They are truly getting better very quickly on the denegard.

 

[top of the hill]

good to know chicmom, thanks!

If they don't drink the honey water, I'll try the brown sugar. These girls have been sneezing for a while now also, thought it was worth a shot!
have you eaten the eggs? I'm slightly freaked by that aspect... guess I could always toss em.

 

[chicmom]

Quote:
Yep, I've eaten the eggs and they taste just fine. (I haven't noticed myself turning color or glowing....) hehe

Truthfully, I put a bit of the water on my tongue (spit it out of course) just to taste just how bitter the denegard is, once mixed with water, and it's pretty darned bitter! YUCK. So I put a good amount of the brown sugar in the water. Probably not quite a fourth of a cup, but close. Now they're drinking it just fine.

Its a real mystery with that CS pullet of mine.....She always sneezes, but seems perfectly healthy. I am watching now, to see if she quits sneezing. The other poor little bantam gal, is in a separate coop. She suddenly became sneezy too, only really bad! Her sneezing was very frequent and loud, and she held her beak open, looking miserable. So the whole bantam flock is getting the denegard now. They all seem fine, and she's definitely getting better. I do like the product. Apparently they can't become immune to this type of medicine. Plus, you get a huge bottle for around $22.00, so it's worth it.

 

[top of the hill]

Yep, I've eaten the eggs and they taste just fine. (I haven't noticed myself turning color or glowing....) hehe

lol! good to know your not glowing!!!
How many days will you give them the Denegard?

 

[chicmom]

Quote:
LOL, I will give it to them for five days.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I also had difficulty getting my chickens to drink water treated with Denagard

Last summer I had a real respiratory illness going through all the flocks, with sneezing, wheezing, & audible congestion. It was very discouraging and I had hoped the Denagard would help. It was additionally upsetting to find that they weren't drinking much of the treated water, it felt like a waste.

I finally decided to mix the Rx in a gallon jug of water and then pour it over pans of their pellets, to make a mush. I added sugar to the water, and mixed some scratch with the pellets to make it more appealing. That was the best way I found to get the Denagard into them.

They all finally got over their illnesses, but I don't know which to credit, the Denagard or the simple elixir of time.

 

[top of the hill]

great idea sunny side up! glad to hear your girls are well again.
I'll see how they fair with the waterer, if needed, I'll make some sort of mash.

 

[ChicKat]

First, I removed the waterers the night before.

Second, I use NON-CHLORINATED water for my chickens - either by collecting rain water - or filling a gallon the day before so that chlorine can dissipate -- kind of what you may do with water for fish. I don't use tap water to water them.

Third, I mixed 1TBSP to a gallon of this water. (It happened to be rainwater in a 5-gallon plastic bucket)

Fourth, I filled the saucer-part only of normal bell-shaped waterers - but left the rest empty. This way if they empty it I can refill - but I won't be wasting the Denagard water - since it needs to be mixed fresh daily. With that 1 gallon I filled 6 saucers and 1 plastic pan, 1 cage cup and the waterer in the brooder - the mason jar kind. All the waterers are plastic or glass + plastic. Denagard solution never touched any metal -- and then here's what happened:

Without fail, when I put the Denagard water in the chickens pens - they drank with no problem what so ever. They even went back for seconds....... I also put it in the Denagard water in the brooder---chicks are just about 4-weeks old - and they drank it -- no problem.

As a result, if you were to ask me, I would say --> Before I would put sugar or any sweetener in the water, I would try mixing with water that doesn't contain chlorine - JMO - I think high dosages of sugar would be detrimental to the chickens health. I would make sure that the Denagard water didn't touch metal.

There ya go...my 2-cents