Is Dumor a good starter feed? - Page 3

I was just researching starter feeds and came across this - just wanted to bring up a couple points as I think it's easy to get mixed up with the actions of different meds. I think it helps to remember what the goal is - the medicated feed is not meant to kill coccidia - it is meant to deprive them from having the nutrients essential to grow out of control. If you killed them off the chicks might not develop immunity - and they'll just ingest more from the soil later. The "stat" in coccidiostat means that the intent is to control growth - the understanding is that birds will naturally ingest coccidia but you want to get them over the hump when they're young and their immune systems can't handle it. And to make up for the fact that many of us will keep them in coops and runs, where they reingest coccidia from the ground at a higher rate. It doesn't make sense to try to kill off something the birds will have repeated exposure too - it's not a one-time infection.

Even with antibiotics in use for humans, some are meant to kill (bactericidal) and some to prevent the ballooning growth that would overwhelm the body (bacteriostatic)....e.g. tetracyclines. They hold the growth at bay so the immune system can do its job.

The method of action where you limit growth by interfering with nutrient acquisition and usage (as in the coccidiostat) makes sense where exposure will be chronic. Resistance isn't so much an issue here as far as I can tell. The body isn't overwhelmed, but the animal still gets exposure so that the immune system will be ready for the future.

I also feed dumor for my new chicks
 

The intent of medicated feed is NOT to kill off all coccidia in the bird!  Amprolium is simply a thiamin blocker, not an antibiotic.  This creates an unfavorable environement in the chicks gut for the coccidia to grow out of control.  Therefore the chick will retain normal numbers of coccidia which enables it to develope immunity. 

 

All chickens have coccidia in them, it is widespread in the environment and as they grow they develop immunity.  The problem arises when the normal coccidia load quickly overgrows in the gut before the chick has had time to develope that immunity.  When it begins breaking down the intestine then you may begin seeing bloody stool.  With some strains you may not see that.  Chickens hide their illness very, very well and so often by the time a bird is showing symptoms of coccidiosis it is already a very sick bird and treatment may be far to late.

 

Personally I consider Amprolium medicated feed to be cheap insurance against a fast moving and so often fatal problem.  It's also a very unpleasant death for the birds as their intestines are basically eaten alive until they die.

 

Edited to add:  Sorry, I see I've basically repeated what Adenium said! 

Edited by cafarmgirl - 5/24/12 at 10:04am

I've been feeding my chicks (9Weeks old), Nutrena Nuture Wise non-medicated feed.  They have added some good things like probiotics to this feed and it has no antibiotics or hormones or preservative.  It does cost a llittle more than the dumor...but its worth it to me.  Soon I am going to feed only organic feed......no gmo'd corn please!  ~beulah

Well, my decision was nearly made for me at TSC yesterday. Agway had small bags of MannaPro and something I'd not heard of. TSC had Dumor (of course) and Purina Starter/Grower. The Purina was the only medicated starter feed, and of course couldn't be purchased in anything other than the 50-lb bag! I got the only one left.

My chicks hatch June 11. They'd better be hungry! I don't know how long you can have the food while maintaining its quality and I know it's best to buy what you'll use within a few weeks....but had I waited until just before chick arrival I have a feeling there would have been none.

There were no Sav-a-Chick packets either. Boo.

There were NONE. I was surprised. Maybe Enfield CT is not poultry-centric enough?

Then I was smart enough to add Save-A-Chick to my Jeffers vaccine order....until I checked out using a different tab on my browser where I hadn't included it. Called them to add it - they can't locate my order so I'll need to call on Monday. Sigh.