Need advice on medication dosage and treatment

[crazychick26201]

I have a four-year-old hen who has basically stopped eating and has had dark diarrhea. I took her to the vet and she did an x-ray and fecal sample And couldn’t come up with any conclusive diagnosis. She prescribed 7.5 mg meloxicam tablet divided into four and to give that once a day and she wormed her. I also had her tested for avian flu and Newcastle. These tests were negative. She seemed to get better after about a week and then start acting the same again so I spoke to my other Vet that I have sometimes taken my chickens to she gave me amoxicillin tablets 250 MG twice a day. I I keep going back-and-forth as to whether or not to give her an antibiotic. I have a liquid meloxicam and have given her 2.5 ml once a day as this vet prescribed. When I dosed her with meloxicam this morning and gave her 125 MG of amoxicillin which is half a tablet. She just acts so lethargic and hasn’t really moved and I wonder if I’m overdosing her I really can’t take her back to the vet because I’ve already spent almost $500 on her can you give me some advice?? I’m thinking that she’s got some digestive problem because nothing else has shown up when when she has been examined by a vet. Thank you ahead of time for your advice and help.

 

[alinas2010]

Sorry to hear about your chicken. It’s frustrating when we can’t figure out what is going on. What kind of hen is she and is or was she still laying eggs prior to being sick? How does her abdomen feel? Could it be something reproductive going on?

Which medication are you worried about overdosing her on? I don’t know much about it meloxicam, but here is a link about using it for poultry:

https://poultrydvm.com/drugs/meloxicam

I can tell you for the amoxicillin, 250mg twice a day is a pretty typical amount seen on this site for a 5lb hen. When my hen was sick all I had were 500mg aquamox capsules and so that is what she got once a day and she got better and did not overdose on those. Here is more info on amoxicillin use in poultry, including dosage:

https://poultrydvm.com/drugs/amoxicillin

If this were my hen and I was at a loss as to what else could be wrong with her, I might shoot in the dark and give her the course of antibiotics. It will either help or not. If you can add probiotics to her water while treating her with antibiotics, that could help with any potential crop issues that could creep up during treatment, though.

Could you try to get her to drink some sugar water or water some scrambled egg to perk up a bit this morning?