FlyingRamses Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 Some advice please. One of our hens developed a runny nose and sneezing a month or so ago. When her breathing got noisier, I took her to the vet and upper respiratory tract infection was diagnosed, antibiotics were given, she is much better now. I was kind of taken aback when the 10 min consultancy was £25 and the antibiotics £27 when they can be bought (with prescription) off the internet for £12. What a great mark-up for the vet!! Unfortunately, my two youngest hens are now showing the same symptoms and I am reluctant to go back to the vet to be fleeced again. Is anyone aware of a reliable natural alternative to antibiotics? I am going to call the vet to see if she will give a repeat prescription but expect her to want to sell me the medication at her prices!! My girls health is my priority, not the money and I will just go back if necessary, just wondered what other peoples experiences with vets were like. Thanks in advance. FR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy chickens! Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 Some people have used citricidal, a grapefruit extract, with some success, but only you know how ill your chickens are. I know from speaking to our vet that the cost of dispensing medicines is high but used to keep other costs down - they aren't trying to make money out of sick animals so much as trying to run the business well, but it is frustrating isn't it when you can see how much the medicines are on the internet. I'm taking one of mine to the vets later, so I'll have to remind myself about this when I choke on the bill! Hope your girls are better soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggalp Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 thats very expensive - is it possible you can find a new vet?? My vets charge me £9 for a small animal consultation - the same as a rabbit or guinea pig etc. The last time i had antibiotics the whole thing cost me about £14 for the consultation and medicine. Hope your chucks are ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarahw12 Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 Those costs would be typical local to me- £20 something just to be in the same room as a vet, regardless of what animal it's for, and even if you know what's wrong with it already and just want a drug dispensing. Then another £20 something for any drugs. I'm really envious of the concept of a small animal fee that's less! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocchick Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I've paid £20 consultation fee, but when we went 2 or 3 times to the vet with one chicken she took it down to the small animal consultation fee The antibiotics have been £5-6 for an injection of baytril Looking at one bill it was about £30 with fee £8ish and 3 injections of antiobiotic, steroid and vitamin Maybe try a new vet. We drive quite a way to see our who is nice with our chickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Is it possible to get a prescription from the vet and then use that to buy the drugs from the internet? Tho our vet has introduced a £6 prescription charge I believe, and I guess you would still have to pay the consulting fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Would they not just repeat the prescription for you as they know you have more than one chook? I've been to Earls Hall is westcliff there are a couple of vets there that will see chooks everything came to £34 if that's any help.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smanners Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 This happened to me with bill of nearly £60 for consultation (£35)and treatment. So when I needed a second lot of antibiotics for same symptoms in other hens , I telephoned the vet and requested some more. I suggested that it wasn't worth bringing the hens in again. They agreed and issued some more Baytril which was only £8 ( enough to treat 4 more hens!) When I needed a chicken (with egg peritonis) put to sleep, I phoned round several vets and was given prices ranging from £10 (childs pet price !) to £27! One wouldn't treat chickens at all and one vet wouldn't give me any idea of price until they had seen the hen ( even though I had made it clear that the hen was very ill and simply needed to be put to sleep. I think a good reasonably priced vet has to be worth their weight in gold. The £10 vet was fantastic and I have vowed to use them in future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Polly died at the weekend, simply form old age. Previous hens that have died have been 'disposed of' by the vet for £7 but htis time it cost us £18. Apparently, they've been charging us small bird prices, a small bird being a budgie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Well, for comparision, the vet I've just dealt with today (separate thread already going for the reasons) cost me £36. That included the consultation, a bottle of vitamin supplement that should last ages, a 5 day course of antibiotics and (at my request) a new bottle of Coxoid since we haven't quite enough to finish the current course we've got our hens on. Personally, I feel that was good value, especially considering the consultation probably took about 20 minutes given all the ground we had to cover. The important bit of information, though, is that I found the vet by using the links on this site. This page on the Omlet site gave me the link to the Find a Vet service, which is where I found I had far more choice than I expected locally, and, critically, that I even had an alternative to our local veterinary practice who've been great with our cats but definitely wanting in the matter of poultry. Given the location in your profile, the list of vets local to you who have some poultry specialisation totalled 277. I'd be amazed if you couldn't find a better price amongst that lot. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smanners Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 This page on the Omlet site gave me the link to the Find a Vet service, which is where I found I had far more choice than I expected locally, and, critically, that I even had an alternative to our local veterinary practice who've been great with our cats but definitely wanting in the matter of poultry. Actually it is one of the vets listed on the Omlet site that cost £65! In fairness they were very attentive just very expensive and quite far away! The Avian recommended vet in Practical Poultry magazine, closest to me was the one that quoted between £16 and £27 to put a chicken to sleep but wouldn't give me an actual price til they'd seen the hen. Perhaps they were concerned I might bring an ostrich instead My own vet like yours is brillant with cats but not too well informed re poultry. I still think it's a bit of a post code lottery. Unfortunately East Dorset appears to be quite expensive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romany Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Today my local vet just charged me £23 for the consultation and £20 for a 100g tub of Tylan soluble... They don't usually deal with chickens there, so I had to buy the whole tub (probably enough there to treat 100 chickens!!)... but she also said that I only had to bring one chicken in, and now that she's seen it she can prescribe again without consultation in future... It could have been cheaper at a different vets, but for the sake of convenience I figured I'd rather pay £10-20 more rather than drive for 45 minutes each way to the cheaper one I found! However, am about to post about Tylan though in a new thread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingRamses Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 Thanks Quickcluck and everyone else, that is really helpful. Seems prices are all over the place. I need to find a vet who is confident with hens and where I went seemed to be the only place, vet round the corner from me just seems to put everything down whatever the problem . . !!! I think I need to do some research now, repeat prescription is a good idea but te vet says that they would need to supply, at the same high price, so frustrating when it is only £10 on the Petmeds site. Maybe I should train to be a vet and then I can look after my girls myself and save a fortune in the process!!! Spent the weekend with our Toy Poodle in vet hosputal as he ate a huge chunk of hen poo and Easibed which blocked his intestine, poor thing. Vet said he was lucky it did not perforate. Thank goodness for pet insurance!!! Thanks again all for your very helpful advice. FR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romany Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 I wonder if you can get pet insurance for chickens?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm I think this has been looked into before and on the whole it's too expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm I think this has been looked into before and on the whole it's too expensive! To be correct it was too Eggspensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
