Human calcium tablets for a sick hen - how much is actually in each tablet and how much to give?

[BigBlueHen53]

You know, for years we've been telling people wrong. We've been telling them to administer one calcium citrate tablet, thinking it contains 600 mg, when in reality it only contains half that. But the thing is, it works! Hens have been recovering from what ails them, pushing out bound eggs, making hard shells instead of soft, or whatever. So I think we can continue to tell people what we've been telling them, as long as we make it clear.

And maybe we should write to the manufacturers about their stupid labeling.

 

[Perris]

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.

Generic product here in the UK tagged for "bone health":
Label = "Calcium + Vitamin D". Just beneath, clearly, says "60 tablets, 2 a day" on the front.
On the side, with the Batch number and the Best Before date, it says clearly "typically 800mg calcium per 2 tablets" (and 5 micrograms vitamin D).
On the back: "Ingredients: Calcium carbonate..." and after all the additives, in bold, we read "Do not exceed the recommended daily dose... Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied, balanced diet and healthy lifestyle."

I'd say that was nice and clear.

 

[Primchick88]

We have trouble with big pills, but chickens swallow them easily. They go down like $**! flushed down a toilet.

Haha! Like that live large mouse one of my first ever took upon herself to toss into the air and straight shot down the hatch.

 

[Primchick88]

They could, yes. But for me it's easier to just put one tablet in the beak and be done with it than try to put repeated syringes of liquid in, especially when I know I have to be careful not to get it down the wrong hole. That really scares me.

Had no idea a tablet would just go on down like that. Lol

 

[jdrose1984]

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.View attachment 3705913

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.

I currently have a hen who is only "laying" yolks after 2 soft shells broke inside her. We've been through this before with her so I feel comfortable with how she's doing right now. But I do want to give calcium, I have this exact same bottle and I'm going to start with 1 pill, is that once a day? once, period? once every few days?

 

[azygous]

Give one calcium tablet once a day for as long as it takes for her eggs to develop a normal shell. Usually, a week will do the trick, at most, two weeks.

 

[jdrose1984]

Give one calcium tablet once a day for as long as it takes for her eggs to develop a normal shell. Usually, a week will do the trick, at most, two weeks.

thank you so much!

 

[ParkroseDucks]

OK, so for my chickens, I prefer the calcium citrate with D3 tablets because it’s easy to give to them but with my ducks, I prefer the liquid calcium gluconate because I have a harder time giving them a big pill and it’s easier for me to syringe the liquid down their throat (always very carefully on their right side, to avoid the trachea) But here I am looking at the label and I have no idea how much calcium I am actually giving them in one ML of liquid

I also have ducks and I agree about preferring to give them liquid, so I did the math. The label says that each 100mL contains 2.14g of calcium, that’s 2140mg. So 1mL contains 21.4mg of calcium. The calcium citrate tablets contain 21% elemental calcium so there is 66mg of calcium in each 315mg pill. So you would need 3mL of calcium gluconate to get the same amount of calcium as 1 citrate tablet.
*Edited to fix my math. Thank you @Wyorp Rock!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I also have ducks and I agree about preferring to give them liquid, so I did the math. The label says that each 100mL contains 2.14g of calcium, that’s 2140mg. So 1mL contains 21.4mg of calcium. That means you would need approx 15mL to give them the same amount of calcium as a 315mg pill. That seems like a perfectly reasonable amount of liquid to give to me but I have a 60mL syringe I’ve had to use for tube feeding from time to time.

Are you referring to Liquid Calcium Gluconate 23% solution (Durvet)?

If so...Check your Math!! 15ml is too much.



@casportpony has broken it down for you in this thread.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-bound-ducks-preliminary.959537/post-14940303
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...bound-ducks-preliminary.959537/#post-14940303

Based on a dose of 100mg/kg and a 23% solution, the dose is as follows:

1 pound duck - 0.2 ml
2 pound duck - 0.4 ml
3 pound duck - 0.6 ml
4 pound duck - 0.8 ml
5 pound duck - 1 ml
6 pound duck - 1.2 ml
7 pound duck - 1.4 ml
8 pound duck - 1.6 ml
9 pound duck - 1.8 ml
10 pound duck - 2 ml

-Kathy

 

[ParkroseDucks]

Are you referring to Liquid Calcium Gluconate 23% solution (Durvet)?

If so...Check your Math!! 15ml is too much.



@casportpony has broken it down for you in this thread.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-bound-ducks-preliminary.959537/post-14940303
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...bound-ducks-preliminary.959537/#post-14940303

View attachment 4047000

You’re very much right. I forgot the crucial step of taking into account how much elemental calcium is in each form of calcium. I’ll edit my post to fix that.

That being said the amounts given in the table still seem too low. Do you know where the 100mg/kg dosage recommendation comes from? That dosage would seem to be about in line with what this thread is saying for calcium citrate and calcium gluconate contains less than half as much calcium.

Part of the reason I found this thread in the first place was one of my ducks was laying soft shells last year and a quick search gave me a different thread which suggested 1mL of gluconate. A couple weeks of that and we weren’t seeing any signs of improvement so I switched to the citrate which was a pain in the ass. They stopped laying for the year shortly after so I still don’t know if that would have worked but getting ready for this year I came across this thread and realized I just might not have been giving enough gluconate because even redoing the math it still looks like my 2kg duck would need 2mL. But yes drastically lower than 15!