How to administer antibiotics?

[yaldnif]

Quick overview, I have 8 australorp chicks that are 8 weeks old. About 3 weeks back I noticed some evidence of coccidiosis. I've already treated for two weeks with corrid in the water. By their droppings every morning it looks like one or two of them may have a secondary infection, necrotic enteritis? I have amoxicillin 250 mg and have broke open the capsules to divide between two little cheese balls I melted in the microwave to add the powder to. Is there a better way to give to each chick? I'm going out now to catch each one and hopefully get everyone to eat a cheese ball! Of course I will have to break those in half because it's too big for one gulp! Plus I don't want all that cheese plugging them up.

 

[Cyprus]

Cheese and dairy in general is not recommended for birds. They can't digest it because they aren't mammals.
Coccidia is a protozoa. Protozoa are not bacteria and thus cannot be treated as such. You said you think they have a secondary infection, are you sure? It's not recommended to treat with antibiotics if you don't have a diagnosis.
Since this would be a gut infection, treating with antibios would also kill off the good bacteria needed for digestion.
What symptoms are your chicks presenting with that make you suspect necrotic enteritis?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would go ahead and give the amoxicillin if the two are acting sick. Liverwurst works as well, and I have used canned cat food pate (friskies brand) to hide medicine. My favorite is cooked egg. However, since amoxicillin is nasty tasting, it might be better to mix it in as little material as possible and feed it orally. Plain Greek yogurt (only a tiny bit) will go through a syringe to give it orally. Those contain live cultures and are good for probiotics, but just use a little. Treat for 5 days. Continue probiotics for a week after antibiotics.

 

[yaldnif]

Cheese and dairy in general is not recommended for birds. They can't digest it because they aren't mammals.
Coccidia is a protozoa. Protozoa are not bacteria and thus cannot be treated as such. You said you think they have a secondary infection, are you sure? It's not recommended to treat with antibiotics if you don't have a diagnosis.
Since this would be a gut infection, treating with antibios would also kill off the good bacteria needed for digestion.
What symptoms are your chicks presenting with that make you suspect necrotic enteritis?

Thanks for replying, after treating all of them with corrid for two weeks I saw watery, mucus like, yellow and some red streaks in two of the droppings on the trays. I had read several posts on here that said a secondary infection could be in their gut from damage due to coccidiosis. I picked up the antibiotic yesterday as a precaution hoping one or two chicks could benefit from it. I'm not even sure which chicks because none are acting sick. I noticed one had a hunched back tail and one has a grey/dark comb and it does lay down more than the others. I have read that could be due to heart issues but I hoped it could help anyway. I was able to get some of the mixture in each one this morning and will mix with something else next time since cheese is bad, they did like it after I finally got them to taste it though.

 

[yaldnif]

I would go ahead and give the amoxicillin if the two are acting sick. Liverwurst works as well, and I have used canned cat food pate (friskies brand) to hide medicine. My favorite is cooked egg. However, since amoxicillin is nasty tasting, it might be better to mix it in as little material as possible and feed it orally. Plain Greek yogurt (only a tiny bit) will go through a syringe to give it orally. Those contain live cultures and are good for probiotics, but just use a little. Treat for 5 days. Continue probiotics for a week after antibiotics.

Thanks for the info, I do have Greek yogurt but will try the scrambled egg next. No cats here but I do have canned dog food? I don't want to try the syringe because I would be afraid of choking them. It was traumatic enough this morning for me and them lol.