Home-made Electrolyte Mix

[WildflowerJLH]

Does anyone have a "recipe" for making their own electrolyte mix? On the Organic Chicken yahoo group, somebody said they make their own with honey, salt, and baking soda, but they did not post ratios. Wonder if anyone has done this?

 

[Gypsy07]

I remember the old style home made 'electrolyte' drinks my dad used to make up when he was running marathons in the 80s. There was no baking soda in it, but the ratio of salt to sugar was a pinch of salt per heaped tablespoon of sugar. I think that was per litre of water. I'd imagine that would be okay for chicks too. Whatever you mix up, I'd recommend drinking it yourself first to test it out. If it's too salty, you'll know!

 

[wingspan]

Here is a recipe for homemade electrolyte solution for those times when you don't have Pedialyte or similar commercial electrolyte solution on hand.

To: 8 oz of warm water (about 103 to 105 degrees F)
Add: 1/2 Tablespoon sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon baking soda.

Mix well, can be kept in fridge for a few days.

 

[MonopolyGame]

My 3 turkey's have colds, one so bad that her eyes are closing, this is even after giving them antibiotics for 4 days and then vitamins since then. Will try the electrolyte recipie and hope the ladies recover!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Its very likely that the treatment period for the antibiotics wasn't long enough. Which medicine were you using, and what was the recommended dosage and treatment time? If you didn't follow those, then you need to run another course per the instructions.
Poultry don't just get "colds". If they're showing those symptoms, then there is a serious issue going on with them. I'd recommend you post your problem in the emergencies section of the forum. Include as much information as you can, symptoms, how long they've had them, the medicine you used to treat them the first time, their age and a picture if you can manage it. If its a respiratory disease or something else, electrolytes aren't going to do the job. They won't hurt, and will likely give the turkeys a boost, but they'll need more.

Good luck.

 

[MonopolyGame]

My 3 lovely turkeys are eating and drinking still, and look a little better today. So cold lately it probably isn't helping....

Here we have something called SuperBooster antibiotics that is applied 1 gram to 1.8 liters of water. Had not thought of reapplying it, will start that today, thank you.

And thanks Wingspan for the electrolyte recipe, they seem to have perked up a bit so will keep that going as well.

Their symptoms are frothy eyes, one of them has swollen around the nose area quite a bit, the others have started, and when they breath there's a slight rattle, which someone has described as Chronic Respiratory Disease? They have this ever year but this year it has affected them badly since we were out of SuperBooster for two weeks before it was applied.

We live off grid in northern Canada where temperatures have been -20 to -40 off and on all winter the last 4 years, and I am wondering if turkeys need warmer quarters? Their coop is now insulated but no heat, maybe a small heater of some kind is needed?

Thank you howfunkyisurchicken, I'm off to check out the emergency forum!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

That does sound something like chronic respiratory disease, especially since they've gotten it every year. Do you have access to Denagard in Canada? I've heard several people on this forum mention it as a preventative and treatment for CRD. I believe the dosage is 8cc per gallon as a preventative (5 days every month?) and 16cc per gallon when they have a flare up (7 consecutive days). If I can find that thread again, I'll share the link here, though you may be able to find it by searching or someone may make the same recommendation in the emergencies forum. Preventing relapses greatly reduces stress on your birds. You do know that they'll carry this for life, right? And, if you hatch any eggs from them, the chicks have the potential to be infected as well since it can be passed from bird to egg...
Sorry you're dealing with it, its no fun when they're sick and I'm glad to hear the electrolyte mix seems to be helping them!

 

[MonopolyGame]

Just took the turkeys their first dose (2nd session) of SuperBooster antibiotics and noticed the sickest one is pecking in the air. I felt a foreboding when I saw that as we have seen this before. Our horse, Buck, did something similar at the vet. We noticed he was "nibbling", just above the grass. That's when the vet said it's best to put him down as that is the final sign before death. I hope it's not the same for birds, sigh. (About Buck, he had cancer and was put down as the vet said they suffer greatly if one doesn't.)

Sounds like CRD is a horrible disease that won't go away. Will have to look into it more and see if there's a way to eradicate it from our coop. It wouldn't be fun if we had to see ill birds every fall.

Thank you once again Nikki! Will post later on how things are going.