Adult Birds on Medicated Chick food?

[ILuvsChicks]

Any problem if the Adult Birds are eating some of the Medicated Chick Starter food?

 

[Kelsie2290]

Do you know what the chick feed is medicated with? Most people don't do a withdrawal period with Amprolium for eggs since it is a thiamine blocker not an antibiotic.

 

[Chris09]

If your feed contains amprolium, it mimics thiamine and it is fine to feed to older birds for short parodies of time.
If amprolium is fed to much to often your birds could show slight signs of a thiamine decency.

 

[ILuvsChicks]

Looks like it is the Amproclium. I usually go threw less than one 50 pound sack a year for the new chicks. Farm store was running a sale. Buy one get one free. So for $12 bucks I got a hundred pounds. Thinking maybe to add the excise to the regular feed. Maybe one to four parts?

 

[Folly's place]

Make sure that you have oyster shell available separately for your hens. Sounds like a good deal otherwise, as long as the feed wasn't cheap because it's too old. Mary

 

[ILuvsChicks]

Its Nutrena County Feeds: MFG 13AUG14
They said they were discontinuing that brand.

 

[ILuvsChicks]

Also I do have oyster shells out for them. Counting the Guineas and peafowls keep around 45 birds. Think I'll just put out a couple of cups once a week.
I looked up thiamine decency. Will keep an eye out for any signs.
Shame the don't run a sale like that for regular feed. I would had bought the whole pallet.

 

[littleboots]

Yes. It's medicated! Here's a great article about it: http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2012/12/natural-from-start-medicated-chick-feed.html

For more of my stuff visit http://www.abundantpermaculture.com

 

[Chris09]

The problem with that "natural chicken keeping" blog post is that there are no facts and or truth...
There have been no proven cases of amprolium type medicated chick starter causing thiamine deficiency in chicks...

The blogger is pushing a so called "natural" way of raising chicken so they are of course going to make a medicated feed look bad.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here is what Purina says about feeding medicated feed (medicated with Amprolium).

QUESTION
What happens if a laying hen eats medicated chick starter? Should we dispose of her eggs for a few days?

PURINA ANSWER
Laying hens can be fed amprolium, and eggs are safe for human consumption.


Here is the link the question and answer came from. It is at the very bottom.

http://www.nutrenaworld.com/knowled...try-feed-frequently-asked-questions/index.jsp

There is a whole lot of misinformation in that blog. There are several different strains of the protozoa that causes Coccidiosis. Very few if any chickens are going to have all the strains and many don’t have any at all. A lot of that depends on what is in your ground naturally. Warm moist areas are at greater risk than cooler drier areas but a wet area around your waterer may be all it takes in dry climates.

The blog is right that the problem is not that the protozoa is present, it is when the numbers get out of hand. The time that the numbers are most likely to get out of hand is when they are in wet conditions. Due to the life cycle of the protozoa, they thrive in wet conditions. The chicks eat the oocysts in such numbers that the numbers of protozoa get out of hand. Some strains of Coccidiosis are more dangerous than others because of which specific parts of the digestive system they attack, so keeping the area dry may not always work, but keeping their water clean and the brooder, coop, and run dry are your best defense against an outbreak. I don’t give them yogurt, fermented feed, or vinegar and I don’t have problems with Coccidiosis. I know I have Coccidiosis in my soil. But I keep the water clean, the brooder dry, and feed them soil from the run to introduce them to that strain of Coccidiosis so they can develop immunity before they hit the ground.

Chickens develop immunity to Coccidiosis with about two to three weeks exposure to the protozoa. The flock develops a flock immunity to any strain in their environment. No matter how long you quarantine them, they are not going to show any symptoms of having Coccidiosis but they can infect your flock when they mix.

Amprolium is not an antibiotic but from what I’ve read it is not accepted as organic. It is a thiamine blocker that in the dosage in medicated feed limits the reproduction of the protozoa that causes Coccidiosis. It does not totally block thiamine in that dosage. It allows enough of the protozoa to reproduce so the chick can develop immunity but it limits the reproduction to try to keep those numbers under control. Amprolium is also the active ingredient in Corid, a medicine used in treatment of a Coccidiosis outbreak. In the dosage in Corid, Amprolium does block thiamine but you only use it as a treatment for a limited time. Dosage is important. In high doses, length of treatment is important.

Even if you feed a feed medicated with Amprolium, they can still come down with a dangerous case of Coccidiosis, even in dry conditions. After they have developed immunity to one strain they can still get sick if they are introduced to another strain. I don’t mean to make light of the dangers of Coccidiosis. It I dangerous when it strikes, but it doesn’t strike every chicken everywhere.

Personally I don’t use medicated feed. I keep my brooder dry, the water clean, and strengthen my chicks’ immune systems by giving them access to limited amounts of that protozoa. I don’t see anything wrong with feeding medicated feed with that dosage of Amprolium. That’s a personal choice.

Littleboots, you may take offense to what I said or you may take the opportunity to do more research and possibly correct some things in your blog. Your choice. You are certainly entitled to your opinion on how much yogurt, fermented feed, or vinegar helps. I don’t use them but I can’t say they don’t help. I choose to go as natural as I can and other than oyster shell on the side do not supplement them with anything.