Help Now... PLEASE!

[MichelleT]

Chicken Vet, I'm curious about your thoughts.
Here's how I did my math to figure out the amount of calcium to give:
Recommendation for oral dosage: 25 mg calcium / kg - This was the recommedation I found on two different sites. If it was incorrect... well... that's what I had to work with. :-(

Henrietta = 5 lbs or 2.3 kg
2.3 kg x 25 mg/kg = 56.7 mg

Each 100 ml (100 cc) = 2.14 grams = 2.14 grams (from the label) or 2140 mg
SO each cc = .0214 grams or 21.4 mg

Does injection take less to work?


UPDATE:
She's doing better after I gave her the dosage on Saturday. (I actually gave her 1/2 cc in the am and another 1/2 cc in the pm).
In fact, her behavior now is 100% normal. Her behavior...

On Sunday she layed an egg with a collapsed thin shell - which was more than we had gotten all week.
So although I understand the risks of doing the calcium, she was so much worse without it.

I would LOVE to be able to take her to a vet. Our only avian option (and she admits she is not a chicken expert - she's an exotic bird expert) is $$$$$. I can't justify >$200 to see what's wrong. I hate it, but we're just going to do our best and see what happens...

What are your thoughts about this being a possible after-effect of infectious bronchitis? (if that is indeed what she had)

 

[chicken vet]

This does sound consistent with IB. Outbreaks of IB typically affect the entire flock so it is a bit unusual for a single hen to be affected. The good new is that if she has indeed recovered from IB, her egg lay rate/ shell quality should return to normal but it may take up to two months. Without rather expensive RT-PCR testing to identify the virus we won't be able to confirm your suspicions. Your math is sound and if she is improving keep doing what you are doing! I admit, with my own flock if I didn't have the ability to treat them myself, I would be hard pressed. Good job!

 

[MichelleT]

Thank you!!!

The entire flock was affected by something for sure, every single hen had one or two symptoms, none exactly the same but all consistent with IB symptoms. That's how I came to think that IB was what it was. Henrietta's just the only one that's had really bad egg-laying problems. (I did have one other that had kinda thin and bumpy shells for a while, but she's back to normal...)

Today I THINK Henrietta laid a fart egg... nice thick shell too. I'm keeping an eye on her and keeping on with the calcium for a while.
Thanks again for your input.

Michelle