Tylan 50 for Chickens: Dosage, Benefits and Risks

Chickens are prone to many bacterial infections, such as colibacillosis, mycoplasmosis, botulism, and fowl cholera. These infections are fatal and can lead to poultry deaths. Fortunately, Tylan 50, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, can save your chicken from succumbing to deadly bacteria ailments.

Tylan 50 for chickens is a soluble powder you can mix with sterile water. The antibiotic is also available in an injectable formula you can inject into your birds to treat several bacterial conditions.

What is Tylan 50?

Also known as Tylosin, Tylan 50 is a broad-spectrum soluble antibiotic that works as erythromycin. It effectively treats poultry diseases in chickens, ducks, and turkeys. This antibiotic is effective in treating conditions such as necrotic enteritis in chickens.

Vets also use it for treating chronic respiratory disease in chickens. Chicken raisers use this medication as an injectable solution after mixing it with sterile water.

The active ingredient in this medication is Tylosin. The best thing about Tylosin is that it has no severe side effects on chickens, which is impressive considering that most antibiotics and synthetic drugs today have dozens of side effects. These side effects of using other unknown antibiotics in your chickens include discomfort, nausea, rash, and mild itchiness.

When to use Tylan 50 for Chickens?

You can use Tylan 50 to treat your chickens when they exhibit symptoms of CRD (chronic respiratory disease). These symptoms include sneezing, sniffling, and coughing. Observe your chickens at a close range to detect these symptoms before administering Tylan 50 to the birds.

You can also use Tylan 50 on your chickens if they have chronic Mycoplasma synoviae. Signs of this poultry disease include lameness and pale-bluish head parts. Severely affected birds also show signs of stress and swollen feet.

Airsacculitis is another respiratory condition you can treat using Tylan 50. This condition results from inflammations in a chicken’s air sacs. Airsacculitis affects chickens of all ages and sizes. Some signs of this respiratory poultry disease include respiratory distress, coughing, and watery eyes.

Chicken raisers with backyard flocks can use Tylan 50 to treat Mycoplasma, which is more prevalent in backyard flocks that interact with wildfowl. Mycoplasma can weaken a chicken’s immune system and cause respiratory disease in chickens and turkeys.

Mycoplasma is a highly contagious chicken disease, and it can spread in your flock within no time, so you need to administer Tylan 50 the moment you observe its symptoms. Some symptoms of Mycoplasma in chickens include swollen faces, ruffled feathers, coughing, poor egg production in layers, watery eyes, and breathing difficulties.

Dosage and Administration

Tylan 50 is available as an oral powder or as an injectable. You can administer Tylan 50 to your chickens by mixing 150 milligrams of the oral powder version of the antibiotic with a gallon of water. Every chicken in the flock must consume enough medicated water to ensure they get at least 50 milligrams of Tylan 50.

Tylan 50 will quickly take effect in around one to two hours. However, treatment should continue for between 3 and 5 days, although the duration of administering the antibiotic depends on the severity of the poultry disease.

The advantage of administering Tylan 50 orally through medicated drinking water is that you have a low chance of injuring the bird, unlike when you inject the injectable version of Tylan 50 into your birds.

Besides administering Tylan 50 orally to your flock, you can try the injectable version of the antibiotic directly into your birds’ bloodstreams. Nonetheless, this method of administering Tylan 50 is risky, so a professional vet is best suited to inject the birds to minimize the chances of injuring the infected chickens.

Sick bantam chickens need around ¼ ml of injectable Tylan 50, while baby chicks and smaller chickens should have ½ ml of the antibiotic. Adult chickens should take 1 ml of injectable Tylan 50. Kindly inject the medication into the chicken’s breast muscle at least once daily. Inject the antibiotic into every sick bird using a 22 gauge sterilized needle to avoid injuring your chickens. While injecting Tylan 50 into the birds, ensure only ¼ inch of the needle enters the breast muscle. Use Tylan 50 injectable on your chickens once or twice daily for between 3 and 5 days.

Potential Side Effects and Precautions

Tylan 50 is overly safe for chickens. Although the main ingredient in this antibiotic medication has little known side effects, Tylan 50 has some potential side effects like other poultry medications. Furthermore, chicken owners must adhere to specific precautions while using Tylan 50 on their flocks, particularly when treating chronic poultry diseases.

Some reported side effects of the antibiotic in chickens include inflammation and pain at the injection spot. Chickens who overdose on Tylan 50 through drinking medicated water can experience gastrointestinal upsets, diarrhea, and loss of appetite.

Allergic Reactions

Allergic reactions are potential side effects of Tylan 50 in chickens. Chickens allergic to antibiotics with similar properties to Tylan 50 shouldn’t have this antibiotic since they will experience severe allergic reactions.

More specifically, chicken farmers shouldn’t use Tylan 50 on their chickens if they exhibit allergic reactions to Tylosin, which is the key ingredient of the antibiotic. Drug interactions with Tylan 50 aren’t precise, although avian specialists insist chicken raisers should use the antibiotic cautiously with other ingredients such as digoxin, omeprazole, verapamil, and warfarin.

Dosage Mistakes

Tylan 50 has minimal side effects compared to other antibiotics we use on our chickens. However, making dosage mistakes can be disastrous to your flock. One of the dosage mistakes to avoid while administering this medication to your chicken is giving too much Tylan 50 to the birds.

Furthermore, consider the age and size of the chickens you are treating using Tylan 50. Adult chickens need a higher dosage than baby chicks. Thus, giving your small chickens an adult dosage of Tylan 50 is the surest way of killing the birds.

Similarly, you shouldn’t administer insufficient Tylan 50 to your chickens because the medication won’t affect the birds, particularly if they struggle with a chronic illness.

Precautions

Let the vet administer Tylan 50 to your birds if you aren’t sure how to administer the drugs to your flock. Furthermore, be cautious when using the injectable form of Tylan 50 because you may injure the chickens.

Most importantly, be mindful of dosage when using the antibiotic because an overdose of Tylan 50 can be fatal for chickens. Kindly call your avian vet if you suspect a possible overdose.

Alternatives to Tylan 50

While Tylan 50 effectively treats various chicken diseases, it isn’t the only antibiotic in the marketplace. They are equally effective antibiotics you can use on your flock. These are some great alternatives to Tylan 50.

• Amoxicillin-The broad-spectrum antibiotic is effective in treating specific bacterial poultry diseases. Treat your flock with this antibiotic if it has acute salmonella and E.coli. It comes in the form of injectables, tablets, and capsules.
• Oxymav B– The antibiotic is suitable for chicken owners raising caged chickens. It’s ideal for treating chronic bacterial chicken diseases like fowl cholera, botulism, quail disease, necrotic enteritis, and mycoplasmosis. Furthermore, Oxymav B is effective in treating respiratory conditions in chickens.
• Aminoglycosides-These antibiotics work by blocking the proteins responsible for bacterial growth in chickens. Some antibiotics in this category include streptomycin, spectinomycin, and neomycin. These antibiotics are especially effective in curing salmonella because they remain in a chicken’s digestive system. Chicken raisers have been using them for treating enteric infections.
• Bambermycins– The antibiotics work by countering the growth of bacterial cell walls. They are effective in treating diseases resulting from pathogenic bacteria. Some reputable antibiotics in this category include GAINPRO and Flavomycin 4.

Conclusion

Bacterial diseases can be the biggest threat to your flock. However, the advent of Tylan 50 is good news for chicken raisers because they can use it to cure various bacterial chicken diseases. However, like other antibiotics, you should be cautious when using Tylan 50. Adhere to the manufacturer’s directions when administering the medication to your birds. Furthermore, use Tylan 50 on your chicken in the correct dosage.