Hen won’t take her medication

[chickenhaver09]

Hello,

My 5 y/o chicken had some fluid in her stomach and the vet’s pumped it out and determined that it was one of three things: liver failure, cancer, or egg yolk peritonitis. We’re treating her with antibiotics because they found some yolk in the fluid that was inside her. Obviously if this doesn’t work, we’ll know it’s not the peritonitis. She was prescribed amoxicillin in pill form. But I can’t get her to take it. The first night I wrapped a thin layer of bread around it and she took it like a champ. That was half a pill. Then yesterday, it was more difficult and I had to break the pill up into smaller pieces and wrap bread around it for morning and night. This morning, she won’t take it at all. I think she’s learned that there’s something inside the bread haha.

I’ve tried breaking it up and putting it in applesauce and her personal feed container. But it’s not working and I think it’s less effective if you break it up anyway.

I’ve called the vet but they sent me resources meant for liquid/syringe fed meds, not pills.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get her to eat her medicine? Thank you!

 

[maryn7]

You're better off just giving her the pill in the beak, rather than trying to hide it.

Open her beak and put the pill in, close her beak and she'll swallow it. If you have a second person, it's handy to have one person hold onto the bird so you have both hands free.

She'll be able to swallow the pill without a problem. Good luck with your girl!

 

[chickenhaver09]

You're better off just giving her the pill in the beak, rather than trying to hide it.

Open her beak and put the pill in, close her beak and she'll swallow it. If you have a second person, it's handy to have one person hold onto the bird so you have both hands free.

She'll be able to swallow the pill without a problem. Good luck with your girl!

Thank you, Maryn! Since reading your reply, we’ve just been able to open her beak and put the pill in. At first she wasn’t swallowing so we gave her some peanut butter and that helped too!

 

[maryn7]

As Mary Poppins would say, a little bit of peanut butter helps everything.

Glad it worked out! Hope the antibiotics resolve her issue.