The Poultry Keeper

chrislee765 · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 47 Location: Hayling Island

thanks for the links. I looked at the Golden Nugget's First aid box thread.

Ive been ordering some through farmrite.

It seems rather expensive (well expensive for 4 chickens :p)

Would it work out cheap for me to buy it as a precaution, or would i be better off getting it from a vet if/when i need it. (things like tylosin etc)

I dont want to be unprepared, but nor do i want to be over prepared, costing me a fortune. If it is sensible to do then i will make sure my girls are covered for all eventualities... well most Very Happy

Knobby · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:31 am Post subject:

poultry poofs · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 4:20 pm Post subject:

Its worth getting stuff like tylosin(tylan) as it comes in powdered form and so long as you store it correctly(out of light) remains effective as long as you have some in the bottle-usually a year anyway-it only becomes effective when reconstituted with food and water and is helpful against a lot of minor infections.Its relatively cheap from the vet -about £16 for a 100 gramme bottle.
Wormers are always a must you just need to be aware of the ones approved for poultry use.
Herban is also recommended by vets for reduction of stress and a help to birds when challenged by infections maintaining their desire for water and food intake which is important and is cheap.
the main problem comes with more complex medications such as tiamutin for mycoplasma treatment and vacines for mareks etc which normally only come in 1000 doses and works out expensive £140 plus, especially if you only have a few birds and many of the drugs and vacines only remain viable for a few hours then have to be thrown so you need to weigh up whats the best option for you.
If you have a lot of birds it works out relatively cheap treatment, bird for bird ,but obviously the less birds you have and the more expensive the drug it can simply be unrealistic to stock much in the way of drugs, but its just as bad when you fork out the huge sums when you go to the vets but at least then you are getting expert advice too.Well, if you are lucky-a good few vets just look at you blankly when you plonk a chicken on the table in front of them Confused

It is certainly worth buying the rudimentary stuff like wormers, herban,poultry spice etc and coccidostat if you have very
young birds.Also a powerful disinfectant like virkon for periodic spraying in satchet form is cheapest and poultry shield to control/eradicate mites in the house -their's not yours Laughing

The most important thing though is being able to recognise when your brds are not well and do something about it immediately and the longer you have birds the better you become at recognising when they are not themselves.
rich

poultry poofs · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 4:29 pm Post subject:

stuffed · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 50 Location: Milton Keynes

poultry poofs · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:43 pm Post subject:

You cant normally without a prescrption but if you ask your vet they should prescribe it for you to use providing you have a need. Usually by the time you get to see a vet as in our case the condition of the bird has deteriorated so we have the right meds from our vet to do the job before things get too far.
I guess they trust our judgement to a certain extent and we dont keep needlessly bothering them with things we can deal with ourselves.So long as the vet is confident that you know what you are doing they are usually able to help.
You can buy it on the internet but you will normally need a prescription from your vet / a vet.