Denagard Dosage

[IllegalChx]

This is probably a stupid question but when you say capsule do you mean you dlute it? Or actually stick it down the chickens throat???? I just can't imagine there mouth being big enough.
Thanks in advance!

 

[cree57i]

I agree, dosing in water is less than ideal. But sometimes it's the only option. If you've got too many birds to dose individually, or you can't tell one from the other, or you can't catch them, or you physically can't get the medication into them, well, it may be your only option. But it's only safe with drugs that have a very, very wide therapeutic dose range, so that the bird that consumes 4-5 times what another one does won't get overdosed, and the one that doesn't drink as much still gets enough to fix the problem.

I may be being dense, but how much do you give per bird if you are giving it to them individually? Can you use a syringe to give them an individual dose?

 

[Sydney Acres]

This is probably a stupid question but when you say capsule do you mean you dlute it? Or actually stick it down the chickens throat???? I just can't imagine there mouth being big enough.
Thanks in advance

Without going back through all the posts, where was a capsule mentioned? If you first hit the quote button, then ask the question, you can be sure that the reader has the right context to answer your question.

But regarding pills and capsules, I give them to most of my birds directly all the time. Unless they are small chicks or bantams, adult LF chickens can swallow very large things, and open their mouths very wide. I have seen them swallow small mice whole!

Birds that can be caught can be given liquid medication by oral syringe. If they can be taken to an area away from the flock for a moment, liquid medication can be soaked up in bread and given as a treat (if it doesn't taste bad), or it can be mixed with a small amount of food that will be eaten all at once. If the medication is a capsule or a pill, the medication can be given directly (like "pilling" a dog or a cat), or it can be wrapped in a piece of bread or tiny piece of pancake or wrapped in a flat piece of "Greenies Pill Pocket" material (the chicken flavored ones made for dogs work the best for poultry) and offered by hand as a treat, or place in a small bowl with a tablespoon of grain where it will likely be readily eaten. Some poultry will eat some pills directly without them being wrapped in anything. I once had a pet chicken with heart disease. She was on numerous medications. She was fed four times daily, and there were numerous medications included with each meal. The liquid medications were soaked up by her crumbles, or mixed into yogart or cooked rice or baby food, and the pills and capsules were just set in the bowl on top of the food. She ate everything readily. There was only one tablet that she ever disliked. It was a nasty tasting antibiotic. She picked it up in her beak, mouthed it a few times, and dropped it. That was the only one that ever had to be disguised. I wish all my birds were so cooperative!!

 

[OHfarmerswife]

I may be being dense, but how much do you give per bird if you are giving it to them individually? Can you use a syringe to give them an individual dose?

I read that if given by mouth it will cause severe gagging. It also says on the label to keep away from mucous membranes. I wouldn't advise giving by mouth. I was told by someone to give by mouth 2cc I did and my sweet hen was dead the next morning.

 

[casportpony]

I may be being dense, but how much do you give per bird if you are giving it to them individually? Can you use a syringe to give them an individual dose?

I read that if given by mouth it will cause severe gagging. It also says on the label to keep away from mucous membranes. I wouldn't advise giving by mouth. I was told by someone to give by mouth 2cc I did and my sweet hen was dead the next morning.

How much did your hen weigh?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

@Sydney Acres, capsule was mentioned in post 21.

-Kathy

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
Denagard is very bitter, and I get the impression that it is somewhat irritating to the mouth and crop if given undiluted. Therefore, it is best to dilute the medication in food or water, and give small portions of the total daily dose over the course of the day, not the total dose all at once. If you can get the birds to eat it, maybe mix it with some honey or syrup to sweeten the taste, then give 1/3 of the total amount at a time, mixed in food. Repeat three times every day, so that the total daily dose is given over 24 hours.

The most commonly recommended dose is 25-50 mg/kg over 24 hours.

If you had a 2.5 kg (5.5 pound) bird, the daily dose would be 62.5-125 mg. (2.5 kg X 25-50 mg/kg = 62.5-125 mg)

The medication comes in a 12.5% oral liquid. That's the equivalent of 125 mg/ml (or cc if you prefer, as ml and cc are the same thing).

Therefore, you would give a 5.5 pound bird 0.5 to 1.0 ml over the course of the day. (62.5-125 mg divided by 125 mg/ml = 0.5-1 ml)

From a practical standpoint, I would go with a middle range dose, which would be 0.75 ml total. I would put 0.25 ml of Denagard in a one ml syringe, pull up an additional 0.25-0.5 ml of honey or syrup, mix thoroughly in the syringe, then mix that with 1-2 tablespoons of grain or cooked rice in a small bowl, or soak it up in a several bite sized pieces of bread. If they ate that well, I would repeat that three times a day.

If your bird is smaller or larger than 5.5 pounds, here's how you figure out how much to give:

1) Weigh your bird. If you weigh it in pounds, then convert to kg by dividing pounds by 2.2. Example: 4.2 lbs divided by 2.2 = 1.9 kg
If you can't weigh your bird you won't be able to dose it accurately. If you can estimate weight fairly well, then using a mid-range
dose is probably safe.
2) Multiply the kg weight by the dosage, or the dosage range. Example: 1.9 kg X 25-50 mg/kg = 47.5 - 95 mg
Or if you want a mid-range dose (37.5 mg/kg) instead of a dose range: 1.9 kg X 37.5 mg/kg = 71.25 mg
3) Divide the concentration of the medication (125 mg/ml) by the number of mg needed. Example: 71.25mg divided by 125 mg/ml = 0.57ml
Or if you want a range of options: 47.5 - 95 mg divided by 125 mg/ml = 0.38 - 0.76 ml
4) Divide the total daily ml by the number of times per day you plan on giving the medication. Example: 0.57 ml divided by 3 times per
day = 0.19 ml Denagard given three times daily. Then add honey or syrup and add to food. If you need to syringe it directly into the mouth because
the bird won't eat the medicated food, you might want to dilute it out further with water, and ideally give it when there is already food in the crop, if
possible.

 

[Sydney Acres]

@Sydney Acres , capsule was mentioned in post 21.

-Kathy

Oh, that was a while back.

The post refers to putting the liquid medication, undiluted, into a gel capsule, and then giving the gel capsule directly by mouth. Yes, it can be done, and would be easily swallowed by most large chickens. However, when the capsule dissolves the undiluted medication would leak out, and might be very irritating if that happened in an otherwise empty crop. It would be best to do this only into a crop full of food, if possible. Also, it would be important to monitor the bird closely, to be sure that there were no problems in doing this.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote: How much did your hen weigh?

-Kathy

OHfarmerswife, I'm so sorry that you lost your hen. 20:20 hindsight can be so cruel. We always wonder if a bird dies after medicating if she would still be alive if we hadn't given the medication. Sometimes they die because they were sick, and the medication made no difference. Other times the medication makes the situation worse. It's horrible when that happens.

Two cc of Denagard is 250 mg, which is enough for an 11-22 pound bird. Most chicken hens are much smaller than that, so that might have been too much to give at once. I don't know if that was the cause of her death. There are many medications that are so safe that they can be overdosed by many times with no effect, and other medications where the toxicity level follows pretty close behind the therapeutic level.

 

[artsyrobin]

i mix the dosage - 2 ml to a litre of water and am using a dropper to hand water(always a few drops at a time at the tip of the beak to prevent aspiration) that way i am sure she is getting hydrated with the correct amount, until she starts drinking on her own