Ways to give a chicken oral medications

[kuntrychick]

Has anyone tried putting medications...wormers, antibiotics, etc. in the empty gelatin or vegetable capsules to give to a chicken?

I was wondering if they would even take it...like if you threw the capsule on the ground with some scratch or bread or something if they would just eat it. Or maybe, putting the capsule in a little bit of yogurt with some other chunky goodies if they would just gobble it up. Of course, you would have to make sure each one got their dose & no more.

Also, I was thinking when you have to give them more than one medication at a time you could combine it into the capsule. I know you can do this for cats & dogs. Also, I've seen where they have flavored gelatin capsules for pets like bacon, beef, or chicken flavored.

What about pipettes...the things sort of like droppers...does anyone use those for giving oral mediations? These:

http://www.amazon.com/Droppers-Plas...ef=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1322275922&sr=1-1

What about when giving oral medications with a syringe...do you use the actual syringe with no needle or one of the oral medication syringes? Like for when my son was a baby, it was much easier for me to give him medicine with the oral medication syringe instead of a regular syringe or a dropper. The regular syringe w/no needle seemed to leak out some while trying to give him medicine...like if he jerked his head real quick. The dropper seemed to dribble some drops out as well. With the oral syringe, it was much easier to just squirt it in his mouth. Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Apex-Oral-Med...=sr_1_11?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1322275191&sr=1-11


And then I found these dental irrigation syringes. They seem to be angled just right to give a chicken medication. The angle of it seems where you could aim it right under the tongue. Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/Watts-Syringe...ef=sr_1_2?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1322274996&sr=1-2

So, what is your easiest way or preferred method to give a chicken oral medication?

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

I use oral syringes. ( My vet gave them to me or you can get them at the pharmacy or feed store)I was given a great suggestion on how to administer that to my girls. Pick up your gal and tuck her under your left arm. Then with your left hand, pull on her wattles and put syringe in her mouth. I try to keep it on her right side of her throat and not straight down her throat. ( To avoid getting fluid in their air sac) Most girls did not fight me but a few did. It was much easier than wrapping them in a towel to dispense. ( I have 12 gals)

I had the dental ones and did not like those at all. Just my opinion.

 

[Uniontown Poultry]

I've done a lot of these. My chickies will not eat gelcaps, no matter what I do. For pills in tablet form, I generally roll a soft ball of bread (which they cannot resist) or get a grape or a cherry tomato (ditto), and then sneak the pill or tablet into the center, and offer it. If they refuse to eat it, I am not above prying open their beak & stuffing it in.

For powdered meds that aren't given mixed into their water, you can make into a paste with drops of water, then slather the whole thing on a piece of bread, or half a piece of bread, fold it over onto itself & make bread balls w/ the medicine inside. Same procedure with liquid meds (bread is nice and absorbent, too). I recently did this with a course of liquid panacur for my king rooster's gapeworms. They hate panacur - it's bitter and sticky - but on the inside of a balled up piece of bread, they don't even know they are eating it.

If my chickies aren't so bad off that they won't eat anything, and I have a liquid med, I open the beak and pour the measured amount in as slowly as I can, so she/he doesn't choke on it. Usually though, a chicken that sick needs to eat too, so the liquid med will probably be administered in bread. Generally the vet gives me the syringe & the liquid med Rx is measured on the syringe (no needle, just the syringe). I have never needed anything bigger than a 3ml/cc, and usually use a 1 ml/cc syringe. You can get them online from vet supply places like First State Veterinary Supply.

Hope this helps!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I use oral syringes. I get them for free at any pharmacy.

 

[Tcline4]

Has anyone tried putting medications...wormers, antibiotics, etc. in the empty gelatin or vegetable capsules to give to a chicken?

I was wondering if they would even take it...like if you threw the capsule on the ground with some scratch or bread or something if they would just eat it. Or maybe, putting the capsule in a little bit of yogurt with some other chunky goodies if they would just gobble it up. Of course, you would have to make sure each one got their dose & no more.

Also, I was thinking when you have to give them more than one medication at a time you could combine it into the capsule. I know you can do this for cats & dogs. Also, I've seen where they have flavored gelatin capsules for pets like bacon, beef, or chicken flavored.

What about pipettes...the things sort of like droppers...does anyone use those for giving oral mediations? These:

http://www.amazon.com/Droppers-Plas...ef=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1322275922&sr=1-1

What about when giving oral medications with a syringe...do you use the actual syringe with no needle or one of the oral medication syringes? Like for when my son was a baby, it was much easier for me to give him medicine with the oral medication syringe instead of a regular syringe or a dropper. The regular syringe w/no needle seemed to leak out some while trying to give him medicine...like if he jerked his head real quick. The dropper seemed to dribble some drops out as well. With the oral syringe, it was much easier to just squirt it in his mouth. Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Apex-Oral-Med...=sr_1_11?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1322275191&sr=1-11


And then I found these dental irrigation syringes. They seem to be angled just right to give a chicken medication. The angle of it seems where you could aim it right under the tongue. Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/Watts-Syringe...ef=sr_1_2?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1322274996&sr=1-2

So, what is your easiest way or preferred method to give a chicken oral medication?

I have a syringe with pro-biotics (it's a thick gel) my chick is broody and when I check her in the hutch she always pecks the 1st time I reach in the hutch. So I had the gel out at the ttip of the blunt syringe and stuck it at her beak. She pecked and got a mouthful! And that's how you get medicine in a chicken!