Just a while ago here on this forum we were discussing how much calcium to give a hen, and some of us were astonished to discover that we were reading the label on the bottle of calcium wrong. Up until now, I, and also quite a few other people, have assumed that when the label on the front of the bottle says 630mg that means 630mg in each tablet. I'm referring to Equate Calcium Citrate or Citrical which is what we usually recommend for treating hens as the citrate form of calcium is most easily digested, therefore it works fastest. So I've been telling people to give their sick hens one 630mg tablet. As I am just finding out, this is wrong.
Often, we suggest substituting Tums or another calcium carbonate antacid when there is no other form of calcium supplement on hand. I have in hand a bottle of Equate Antacid Chews and it states on the label it is 750mg calcium carbonate. You might think that means each tablet contains 750mg. Come to find out, this is not the amount of calcium in each tablet. Confused? It's going to get worse before it gets clearer.
In addition to people here in the US, we have people from countries all over the world who come to BYC for help with sick chickens, and we who try to help need to tell them how much calcium to give. Luckily, the metric system of measurement is the same all over. One miligram (mg) is one miligram wherever you are in the world. However, when we pick up a bottle that says 630mg on the front, that is not necessarily the amount of calcium in each tablet. I would like for BYC users in other countries to join this discussion and let us know if the calcium bottles they buy state the actual content of each tablet on the front of the bottle. Because here in the US, in order to find out how much is in each tablet requires hunting down some very small print on the back of the bottles.
On my bottle of Equate Calcium Citrate the front of the bottle says that there is 630mg of calcium in each serving. Notice it does not say "tablet". On my bottle of Equate Antacid Chews it just says 750mg calcium carbonate. Notice it doesn't say "tablet" or even "serving". But on the back of the bottle under Drug Facts, it states "active ingredient in each tablet calcium carbonate 750mg", but then turning the bottle further I get to small print that says under "Drug Facts continued" that the serving is "one to two tablets, but down below that under "other information" it states that each tablet contains 300mg of calcium. Does your head hurt yet? Mine does.
You may have noticed I have mentioned two types of calcium - calcium citrate and calcium carbonate. There is a third type, calcium gluconate, but I don't mention it because the actual calcium content is very low and isn't helpful in the circumstances where we're using calcium to treat reproductive issues in chickens. In fact, calcium carbonate has twice the calcium that calcium citrate has. However, calcium carbonate is much more difficult for a body to digest, therefore absorption is much slower than calcium citrate. This is why we usually suggest calcium citrate for sick hens. It goes to work faster and fast is what we want when our hen is in a reproductive crisis. Now, back to figuring out how much we should give.
I've been recommending calcium for hens with reproductive issues for many years. I've been treating my own hens with calcium ever since, as a novice many years ago, I asked in a thread here on BYC what to do about thin shell eggs. Since then, I've educated myself on the role of calcium in the reproductive system of hens. Calcium is crucial in everything from keeping a chicken's heart beating to building shells on eggs to stimulating contractions to push the egg out. When calcium levels become low in a laying hen, it can cause thin shells, no shells, egg binding and even heart attack. So calcium is a very important tool we use to treat a sick hen. Over the years, I've used the same calcium supplement I use for myself - calcium citrate - and I have been using one tablet from the bottle that says 630mg on the front. I've experimented with less, but that size works best. But, the question is this - how much calcium am I actually recommending?
When I'm answering a distraught person with a sick hen in prolapse caused by egg binding, I don't have time to explain serving sizes and amounts in one tablet of one of the three different forms of calcium. I and the person with the sick hen just want to know how much calcium to give. It's easiest to tell them to give one tablet calcium citrate directly into the beak and be done with it. And that's what I'm going to stick with. Thankfully, calcium is not going to do a lot of immediate harm if too much is given to a hen. Too little is the greater problem as it won't be as effective and the hen could die.
If I need to be more specific about the amount of calcium to give, I will need to say a minimum of 300mg. I am hesitant, though. If others are reading the labels wrong on these calcium supplements as I have been doing, and they find a bottle that says 300mg on the front and if that refers to serving size and not the acutal amount in each tablet, then we risk the sick hen not getting enough calcium to do the job, and quite possibly enough to save the hen's life.
Wouldn't it be swell if we could call up someone in charge of labeling these supplements and say, hey, you need to put the amount of calcium in each tablet on the front of the bottle? But we know that isn't going to happen.
Often, we suggest substituting Tums or another calcium carbonate antacid when there is no other form of calcium supplement on hand. I have in hand a bottle of Equate Antacid Chews and it states on the label it is 750mg calcium carbonate. You might think that means each tablet contains 750mg. Come to find out, this is not the amount of calcium in each tablet. Confused? It's going to get worse before it gets clearer.
In addition to people here in the US, we have people from countries all over the world who come to BYC for help with sick chickens, and we who try to help need to tell them how much calcium to give. Luckily, the metric system of measurement is the same all over. One miligram (mg) is one miligram wherever you are in the world. However, when we pick up a bottle that says 630mg on the front, that is not necessarily the amount of calcium in each tablet. I would like for BYC users in other countries to join this discussion and let us know if the calcium bottles they buy state the actual content of each tablet on the front of the bottle. Because here in the US, in order to find out how much is in each tablet requires hunting down some very small print on the back of the bottles.
On my bottle of Equate Calcium Citrate the front of the bottle says that there is 630mg of calcium in each serving. Notice it does not say "tablet". On my bottle of Equate Antacid Chews it just says 750mg calcium carbonate. Notice it doesn't say "tablet" or even "serving". But on the back of the bottle under Drug Facts, it states "active ingredient in each tablet calcium carbonate 750mg", but then turning the bottle further I get to small print that says under "Drug Facts continued" that the serving is "one to two tablets, but down below that under "other information" it states that each tablet contains 300mg of calcium. Does your head hurt yet? Mine does.
You may have noticed I have mentioned two types of calcium - calcium citrate and calcium carbonate. There is a third type, calcium gluconate, but I don't mention it because the actual calcium content is very low and isn't helpful in the circumstances where we're using calcium to treat reproductive issues in chickens. In fact, calcium carbonate has twice the calcium that calcium citrate has. However, calcium carbonate is much more difficult for a body to digest, therefore absorption is much slower than calcium citrate. This is why we usually suggest calcium citrate for sick hens. It goes to work faster and fast is what we want when our hen is in a reproductive crisis. Now, back to figuring out how much we should give.
I've been recommending calcium for hens with reproductive issues for many years. I've been treating my own hens with calcium ever since, as a novice many years ago, I asked in a thread here on BYC what to do about thin shell eggs. Since then, I've educated myself on the role of calcium in the reproductive system of hens. Calcium is crucial in everything from keeping a chicken's heart beating to building shells on eggs to stimulating contractions to push the egg out. When calcium levels become low in a laying hen, it can cause thin shells, no shells, egg binding and even heart attack. So calcium is a very important tool we use to treat a sick hen. Over the years, I've used the same calcium supplement I use for myself - calcium citrate - and I have been using one tablet from the bottle that says 630mg on the front. I've experimented with less, but that size works best. But, the question is this - how much calcium am I actually recommending?
When I'm answering a distraught person with a sick hen in prolapse caused by egg binding, I don't have time to explain serving sizes and amounts in one tablet of one of the three different forms of calcium. I and the person with the sick hen just want to know how much calcium to give. It's easiest to tell them to give one tablet calcium citrate directly into the beak and be done with it. And that's what I'm going to stick with. Thankfully, calcium is not going to do a lot of immediate harm if too much is given to a hen. Too little is the greater problem as it won't be as effective and the hen could die.
If I need to be more specific about the amount of calcium to give, I will need to say a minimum of 300mg. I am hesitant, though. If others are reading the labels wrong on these calcium supplements as I have been doing, and they find a bottle that says 300mg on the front and if that refers to serving size and not the acutal amount in each tablet, then we risk the sick hen not getting enough calcium to do the job, and quite possibly enough to save the hen's life.
Wouldn't it be swell if we could call up someone in charge of labeling these supplements and say, hey, you need to put the amount of calcium in each tablet on the front of the bottle? But we know that isn't going to happen.
