Dosage for Duramycin/Tetracycline??

[Bleenie]

A friend of mine has a small flock of chickens that have developed a respiratory issue with the sudden cold, wet weather. I told her she could pick up some Tetracycline(now labeled Duramycin) for them but the package only has MG measurements and i can't find a good conversion online.

How much of the powder should she mix with their water? and for how long?

She has Gallon size waterers and her problem was she couldn't find a tsp/tbsp, "everyday" measurement for the medicine.

 

[dawg53]

Would be nice if the company would just do the math, for the smaller flocks, and put it on the bag...

http://www.durvet.com/dl/Durvet-Poultry-Brochure.pdf

 

[chicken_chik]

Would be nice if the company would just do the math, for the smaller flocks, and put it on the bag...

 

[Bleenie]

Okay, well i just searched again for dosage and found a link back to BYC...(DUH!)... and this is quoted from BYC'er ToniLee

"I called Durvet, directly, for small dosage instructions. 1 tablespoon per gallon of water, made fresh daily. So, doing the math, that's 3/4 of a teaspoon per quart."

 

[kande50]

Quote:
I poured the 181 gram bag of Duramycin-10 into a measuring cup and it measured right around 1 cup.

It says that the 181 grams of powder contains 10 grams of tetracycline, so that means that there's 10 grams of tetracycline in a cup of Duramycin-10.

1 cup is 16 tablespoons, which is 48 teaspoons. So I divided 48 into 10 grams to get the number of grams of tetracycline per teaspoon of powder, which is 0.204 grams of tetracycline/teaspoon of powder.

1 tsp of Duramycin-10 equals 0.204 grams = 204 mg, which means that I want to add 2 teaspoons per gallon

I want to dose my hens at 400mg tetracycline per gallon of water, but I only have 3 hens so I want to mix it by the pint not the gallon.

A pint is 1/8 of a gallon, so I want 1/8 of 2 teaspoons Duramycin-10, which is 1/4 of a teaspoon/pint.

Kris

 

[kande50]

Quote:
WRONG!
I had to give my chickens 200-400 mg of tetracycline hydrochloride per day in a gallon of water for seven days as a preventative just in case they might have caught the respiratory disease from my rooster that spent a week at the vet's.

I knew that 400 mg = 0.014109 oz . = 0.084654 teaspoon

My pharmacist used a special scale and measured out 400 mg.

I think he should have measured out 7.2 grams, which is consistent with Durvet's recommedation.

I came up with 400 mg tetracycline HCl equals 7.2 grams of Duramycin-10 powder, because the 400 mg of Tet-HCl is only part of the weight of the Duramycin-10 powder because the powder not 100% Tetracycline. So to get the correct dosage of Tet you have to weigh out 18.1 times the amount of Duramycin-10 powder, which is about 2 teaspoons for 400 mg.

But the dosage isn't just 400mg, it's 400mg per gallon of water. So I would think that getting the correct dosage per bird per day would depend upon figuring out how much water each bird drinks in a day (something Durvet likely bases the recommended dosage on).

Kris
--
Kris Anderson
Williamstown, MA

 

[Leo1]

I just measured out the bag in Tbs. The bag says 1 bag (6.4 oz) will make 25 gallons of water at the 400 mg dosage. So I converted that based on the # of Tbs in the bag, about 12, and it comes out to 1/2 Tbs per gallon or 1.5 Tsps if you need something even smaller.

 

[casportpony]

There is 6.4 oz. or 181 gram to a package , the package says 6.4 oz. OR 181 grams mixed with 12.5 gal. of water gives a mix for 800 mg , so do the math. 181 g divided by 12.5 gal = 14.48 grams per gal. ONE LEVEL TEASPOON = 5 GRAMS { USE A MEASUREING SPOON } so the safe way to make sure you don't over dose is one level teaspoon to a halt gal of water or two level teaspoon to a gal. ---------that the dosage recommended by Durvet the makers of duramycin for 800 mg dose . That's the dosage I would use to make sure it killed any and all bacteria.. my little hens have been on this dosage for 5 days now and are doing good . one of my little hens was near death and today she was clucking and eating with the rest of them. So to sum it up -------- TWO LEVEL TEASPOON PER GAL.--------ONE LEVEL TEASPOON PER 1/2 GAL. AND 1/4 TEASPOON PER QT. =700 TO 800 MG DOSE Good luck

Did you weigh it? I agree that one teaspoon = 4.92892ml and that 5ml of water = 5 grams, but powder is not the same density as water, so they don't weigh the same.

-Kathy

 

[LTygress]

I already know how to mix it

You're also feeding your chickens their own eggs which have the antibiotics in them, which is adding in a higher dose to their body, and probably not STOPPING the antibiotics as needed (since the eggs continue to have trace amounts after the chickens are done with their dosages).

Casportpony already pointed out the problem. It really comes down to the fact that we're talking about weight versus volume in the long run. It's hard to judge how to convert the weight to volume without knowing exactly what the substance is. It's like saying which is heavier - a ton of feathers or a ton of rocks? They're both the same weight (a ton), but it's going to take MANY, MANY more feathers to equal a ton.

Also, keep in mind that adding an antibiotic to their drinking water doesn't necessarily mean that the chickens are going to DRINK the right amount of that water for their body. A lethargic chicken probably won't even bother moving to the water container, much less standing up to drink it. And if you are forcing it on them, are you giving them enough water? Too much water?

It's hard to say. So really, the dosage given on labels is a "safe" dose range to begin with. Your chicken may be really, really thirsty, and drink a lot more than usual which could technically overdose them, right? That's why the dosages are set where they are. It's a "safe" range, and it's actually okay to go slightly higher if you make a mistake. If these dosages could be over-dosed that easily, they would be available by prescription only.

Although I would VERY, VERY strongly recommend giving them fresh yogurt during and after using antibiotics, too. And luckily.... I posted the instructions for making it right here.

 

[LTygress]

Okay. Fine. Whatever dose you gave to your hen worked for whatever she had.

The 3 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon conversion is a standard unit of measure, not a "kitchen spoon". The correct amount is close to three teaspoons, which equals a proper tablespoon. Yes, it should be just shy of a full tablespoon, but like I mentioned in one of my own posts, these medications are manufactured with withstand a little error here and there. So a proper tablespoon per full gallon is the correct dosage.

edited by staff