I had an absolutely crazy day this week: my sister gave birth on the same day that I had to take a hen to the vet, so I was not on my A game at the vet's office and did not ask questions I wish I'd asked. This was a new vet to me because my usual vet could not see a chicken for at least another week.
The hen has a wound to her back/side, a pretty nasty laceration that I believe she got during mating. I mainly took her into the vet to get help cleaning out the wound so that her feathers wouldn't heal inside of it.
But while there, I was given two medications by the vet: Doxycycline in 50mg pill form and Silver Cream.
Neither label came with withdrawal directions, as they usually do when I get a medication for a chicken. Now I'm googling (she's had three doses so far) and it seems like there is no stated withdrawal for Doxycycline? I read an article linked in another thread, and the section on tetracycline medications seemed sort of like "who knows?" when it came to how long there might be leftovers in the chicken's system. (I'm also now aware that Doxy might not be the best antibiotic for a wound, but I feel weird stopping an antibiotic three days into a 6 day course).
Does anyone have experience with a hen being given Doxycycline? This hen is a Welsummer/Easter Egger mix, and she and her peers have stopped laying for the winter season, so I'm not anticipating an egg from her until February/March at the earliest. Do you think it's safe to eat her eggs at that point? Do I need to hurl her eggs into the woods from now until forever?
I'm finding different things as I'm trying to search, and I'm just wondering about peoples' experiences. I called the vet to ask and the receptionist told me the withdrawal period was "about a month" which seems short. In the past I feel like similar medications have had a withdrawal period of more like 8 weeks.
Thoughts? Stories? Commiserations?
The hen has a wound to her back/side, a pretty nasty laceration that I believe she got during mating. I mainly took her into the vet to get help cleaning out the wound so that her feathers wouldn't heal inside of it.
But while there, I was given two medications by the vet: Doxycycline in 50mg pill form and Silver Cream.
Neither label came with withdrawal directions, as they usually do when I get a medication for a chicken. Now I'm googling (she's had three doses so far) and it seems like there is no stated withdrawal for Doxycycline? I read an article linked in another thread, and the section on tetracycline medications seemed sort of like "who knows?" when it came to how long there might be leftovers in the chicken's system. (I'm also now aware that Doxy might not be the best antibiotic for a wound, but I feel weird stopping an antibiotic three days into a 6 day course).
Does anyone have experience with a hen being given Doxycycline? This hen is a Welsummer/Easter Egger mix, and she and her peers have stopped laying for the winter season, so I'm not anticipating an egg from her until February/March at the earliest. Do you think it's safe to eat her eggs at that point? Do I need to hurl her eggs into the woods from now until forever?
I'm finding different things as I'm trying to search, and I'm just wondering about peoples' experiences. I called the vet to ask and the receptionist told me the withdrawal period was "about a month" which seems short. In the past I feel like similar medications have had a withdrawal period of more like 8 weeks.
Thoughts? Stories? Commiserations?
