Do I give my chics only antibiotics in water for 5 days or give water aswell?

[Bex_01]

I have 5 x 12 week old chics with a upper respiratory infection. My question is do I feed them their water soluble antibiotics as the only source to drink from for 5 days or do I put fresh water out for them once they have got through the antibiotic water and only do the medicated water once daily? They seem to love the antibiotic water and are going through it very quickly. Thx.

 

[Tiana's chickens]

I think antibiotic water for 5 days

 

[emmyn74]

How much water are they going through a day before it needs refilled? What antibiotic are you giving them?

 

[Bex_01]

The antibiotic is called Oxymav and is
Oxytetracycline hydrochloride which is mixed at 5g per 50ml of water. I'm not exactly sure how much they have been drinking on average before I started the medication. I have a 3 litre waterer that I change daily but it is never all gone it just gets litter in it so I change it to keep it clean. I made up 300ml and it was gone in 3 hours. I just don't want to overdose them if overdosing is even possible.

 

[rebrascora]

That seems like a very large dosage! Are you not supposed to be direct dosing each chick with a small amount of that dilution? If there are 5g in 50mls, I could easily imagine a chick drinking more than 50 mls in a day and 5g of antibiotic per day seems a huge dose per chick. Can you post a photo of the directions that came with the medicine.
@casportpony is the resident expert on medicines and dosages and is a whiz at calculating the things she doesn't know off the top of her head, so hopefully she will come along and confirm that you are doing it correctly or advise something different.

 

[rebrascora]

Just googled it and it does say to use the diluted (5g to 50mls) medicine as "the source of water for the birds to be treated" so it sounds like you are doing it right and no other water should be availble

 

[Bex_01]

Dosage and Administration:
CRD and bacterial enteritis dissolve 5g (1 rounded measure) in 50mL of water. Use this solution as the source of drinking water for the treated bird. Make up this solution fresh daily. Treat the bird for 3 - 5 days, or as directed by a veterinarian. 50mL of prepared solution will treat 2 large birds (parrots, cockatoos) or 10 small birds (canaries, finches, budgerigars).

It also seems like a lot to me too. That's why I was thinking I should maybe do it once a day and then give them fresh water seeing as they are drinking it so quickly. Thanks for googling I couldn't copy and paste on my ancient ipad.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am not an expert on oxytetracycline, but in chickens the dosage in the water is supposed to be 400 to 800 mg of drug to each gallon of water for 7 days. 1000mg equals 1 gram, so that seems like too much. Since the oxytet is for smaller birds, I think it may be too concentrated. I will wait for @casportpony to respond to this.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Make the medicated water available as the only source of drinking water for your 5 days.

 

[casportpony]

Is it Oxymav B or Oxymav 100?

If Oxymav B follow the directions on the container.