How do you get medicine in a chicken beak?

Enchanted Sunrise Farms

Crowing
12 Years
Apr 26, 2007
4,255
64
274
Fair Oaks, California
My vet put my EE Penny on a liquid sulpha medication to be given twice daily. First few days she was eating it fine mixed with some wet cat food. Last two times she did not finish it, and now seems to have lost interest in the cat food.

i tried holding her and getting her beak open to just shoot it down her throat, but she was not very cooperative. Is there a trick to getting medicine down a chicken's throat? Or does anyone have any suggestions on what might be better to mix this with so she will eat it all?

Thanks for any insight anyone might provide.

Colleen
 
Well, she only ate half of the yogurt. She ate half the kitty food this morning, so hopefully that gives her a full dose.

Thinking there should be a trick to getting the medicine down. i know with cats, when trying to get them to swallow a pill, if you blow in their nostrils it will make them swallow.
 
I havent heard of any tricks.. all I have used I put in the water.. maybe someone with more med experience will come along soon and know of a trick or two...

Good Luck,
Renae....
 
I make up a bit of oatmeal (thick enough so it will hold it shape) you can form it into little pellets...I take a quarter tsp of that and mix the med with it... then form tthree or four pellets and coat those in olive oil or salad oil. If the bird is uncooperative have someone else hold the bird for you so you will have both hands free if possible... with a posicle stick or such you cah open their beak and place the pellet in and close the beak and gently stroak the neck so they swallow it on their own. The evening is the best time to do this as they are much quieter and easier to handle.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, i tried the oatmeal, but she wouldn't take it with the meds inside. However, i did put some oatmeal out for all the chicks, and they love it.

Went into the vet office last Friday and the staff showed me how to administer meds. It worked great in the office, but not so great by myself back home.

So today my vet called me, and i explained my difficulty. She said she would prescribe meds to put in the water. What?????? i've been trying to pry a chicken beak open twice a day for a week. Plus, poor Penny is all stressed out firstly from being a new egg-layer, and then having me wrestling yucky meds down her throat.
he.gif


Not to mention i have all these beautiful eggs i can't eat. i guess i need to start looking into craft ideas for blown eggs. Yesterday she layed an extra large one. i know it's a double yolker.
barnie.gif
 
When my vet mixed up a pred suspension she flavored like molasses. The bird drank it from the spoon. See if they could make you up something that is matches more of the taste a bird prefers.
 
i talked to a local compounding pharmacy, but they had never done meds for chickens, so did not have any idea about possible flavors. i would not have thought of molasses. i will mention that to my vet. For now, glad to be getting meds for in the water. Hope it doesn't make it taste so yucky she won't drink.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom