I have a sick villager, Peck.  I saw that he was home earlier and remembered to pick him up some medicine.  However, when I try to get into his house, I get a message saying, "Sick in bed.  Maybe next time!".  I've never had this happen before!  Is there a window I missed where I was supposed to deliver the medicine?

When I went by his house a second time, there was smoke coming out of his chimney and I was able to get him the medicine.  I'm still not sure how that original message came about though.

What time was it? Maybe it was when he's sleeping. Like late at night sometimes you knock on a villagers door and it'll say 'shh I'm sleeping!' It might have just said that cos he's sick

In my experience, sick villagers don't let anyone in until the afternoon.

was your gate open? in the past when ive tried to visit sick villagers while my gate was open id get a similar message

No, he's a jock, so he usually gets up pretty early.  Maybe he just got up later?  I was playing yesterday around 9 and I got him his medication.  He woke up today at 11:00.

lishygoo, yes I think my gate was open!  I was just running around trying to get a bunch of chores done.  I guess that makes sense as you only want one character who lives in the same town to deliver medicine.

^ That makes sense.
I had it happen too, but I don't remember if I was online when it happened!

"yes I think my gate was open!"

i had it happen to me on wild world a looong time ago, but i still remember because of how confused i was, and it was one of my favorite villagers glad i could help!

IIRC, if you open your gate in WW and one of the villagers in your town is sick, the sick villager is magically cured, even once you close your gate. Kinda a helpful trick if you hate dealing with sick villagers in that game, I guess.