Dosage questions for urgent treatment

[chicknmania]

We are trying to treat our sick hen and I need some advice quickly, please:

1) If we are trying to hydrate her with electrolytes, how much should we give her in one dose, and should it be Pedialyte, Gatorade, or something else? She has already had poultry vitamins and electrolytes for a couple of days, but is not eating or drinking well.

2) We want to treat her with a crushed Tums tablet in her food. She shares a feeder with her roo. Is it ok for him to have Tums too or is that too much calcium? If we are giving her calcium in Tums form, should we also be treating her with other vitamins (we were going to give her some liquid baby vitamins this evening)

3) I hope to be able to ask our vet this, but in case I can't, does anyone know: on Monday we are picking up some Juvenile Formula from him This is considered a complete nutritional supplement, and his office said she should not need any additional vitamin supplement. AT that point, should we discontinue the Tums and supplemental electrolytes?

She was very sick yesterday and is a little better today, but I am hoping that the Tums and electrolytes will make a big difference. We think she has severe calcium deficiency. WE cannot afford a vet visit; by pleading with his office we got them to give us the juvenile formula, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sammi]

could you please describe the symptoms?
what is she doing?

describe the droppings..color and consistency.

check the crop and see if it feels hard or has a lump in it.
or grainy feeling.

what ALL do you feed?

don't let the roo have the Tums.

why do you think she has a calcium deficiency?

 

[dlhunicorn]

also the breed and age of hen and also the weather conditions (current and in the last few months)

 

[chicknmania]

I've already posted about this hen. (see clumsiness) dlhunicorn, thankyou, I got your message on the other byc forum, but I still need to know about the pedialyte? Also, she is on layer, which, of course, has calcium. Should I still give the added calcium in the tum tablet AND the polyvisol? We are getting Juvenile Formula from our vet's office on Monday; this stuff has vitamins in it, also. Don't know if anyone's familiar with it but we used it on a sick rooster a few years ago and it works well; you force feed it with a dropper. So, once I get that, I'm not sure if I should continue with the polyvisol and tums? Not sure the vet will tell me, since he hasn't seen the hen and we can't afford a vet visit right now. I just don't want to give her TOO many vitamins.

Sorry for the confusion, everyone...I was trying to get some quick answers so spread the posts out a little.

 

[chicknmania]

We started her on the polyvisol (4 drops) last night, and also 1/2 dropper of pedialyte. She spent a few hours in the sun today and seems a little better.

 

[dlhunicorn]

if you already have a commercial prearation of electrolytes in your waterer, then you will not need the pedialyte. If she is not panting and drinking sufficiently then she will not need an electrolyte. Yes, continue the polyvisol .

 

[chicknmania]

She was not drinking well, (that is why we weren't giving her the avian water soluble vitamin/electrolyte supplement) although her drinking has improved the past couple of days, since we've started the vitamins. I'll figure it out. Thanks for your help.