[Trisha]

I was advised by the vet to give 4 ml of baytril with 1 litre of water.  I done this yesterday at 11.45am and they still havent drank it all, probably drank about half a litre.

Any ideas as to how I can get them to drink more or is there a better way of getting the antibiotic into them?

Many thanks, Trish x

[Trisha]

Could I make some thick porridge, divide it by 4 then share the next batch of antibiotic water between the 4 portions which will thin the porridge down.  Obviously I would need to feed them this individually to ensure they got there quota.

They love porridge so thought this might work, comments please x

[carolbriar]

When I was given baytril for my hen it was given to me watered down in a syringe and I had to syringe 2 ml into her mouth.  It is usually pretty quick and easy although I have occasionally given a bit more than I was meant to.  I have never given it to mine in water but I have only ever treated one hen at a time.

[cluckingnuts]

As it should be removed + then replenished every 24 hrs, why not make up half the amount at a time. They will drink if thirsty.

[Trisha]

Carolbriar - I had called the vets this morning (I was transferred to the emergency vet service in the city who apparently cover my area in an emergency) and they said that they couldnt advise me on changing the doseage as they had no way of accessing my file and I was to wait till I spoke to my own vet in the morning. I had forgotton my local surgery was closed today and expected to speak to one of vets.  I also forgot it was Fathers Day 

Cluckingnuts - only just seen your post, but thanks for the reply. I went with the porridge idea, made the porridge with 500ml and divided up into 4 portions then added the antibiotics to the remaining 500ml of water and used this to thin down the porridge mixture, using 125ml for each chook.

They all ate it eventually during the course of the day.

I will contact the vets in the morning as I am keen that Natalie in particular gets this into her system asap as she seems to be affected the most.   

[Trisha]

I called the vets and unfortunately they were very unhelpful.  Cluckingnuts I have done as suggested and cut down the amount given then replaced with fresh stuff once they have finished it.  They seem to be doing fine and I think Nat and Poppy are on the mend and the other two are showing no symptoms at all.  So far so good