Use of tylosin to prevent early mortality in bobwhite quail

Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of treating day-old quail by drenching either with a soluble tylosin, tartrate solution or plain water, or medicating for five days with tylosin in the drinking water. Diagnosis of dead birds indicated ulcerative enteritis infection. Quail drenched with plain water or tylosine had less (P less than .01) mortality than those given tylosin in the drinking water or the untreated control birds. There was no difference between quail drenched with plain water or tylosin. Birds given tylosin in the drinking water resisted mortality significantly better (P less than .01) than the control birds.