baby chicks and antibiotics in their water

[Chickenoodle#4]

Hello, I'm new to raising chicks. We have four new chicks. The store we bought them from said to give an antibiotic and electrolites in their water until they are a little older. Is this a good thing to do?

 

[lively Bee's]

We didnt and they were all healty untill late one friday when they was about 6 days old I started haveing chicks to die. After a long week end we found out a few days of antibodys was all we needed we treated for 6 days and the the birds all seem fine.

When we order our fall chicks we will give them antibostics for the first 7 days.

 

[lively Bee's]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=613

this is why I will treat my fall order. I dont wont to loose chicks when I can treat them for 2 or 3 days and give them a better start. A few days of antiboitics is better then a few dead chicks and then antibiotics.

 

[Wes in Tx]

IMHO NO,NO,NO. The vitamins and electrolytes are fine but don't give antibiotics to healthy birds. Doing that leads to resistant strains of bacteria and viruses. Lots of people recommend this as it does help them grow but it can lead to problems further down the road if you have a bird catch something.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Sounds more like Cocci than an infection. Try using milk powder in the chick feed, and make sure the bedding stays dry as moist bedding is prime breeding for the cocci. I agree with Wes, using antibiotics for new chicks routinely is unnessary and will lead to more problems than solutions.

 

[jimnjay]

Giving Antibiotics unless the chicks are sick does not make sense to me either. I do use medicated chick starter which has Amprol as an inhibitor to cocci growth which is not an antibiotic. I have rarely had any sick birds. There are many reasons a chick will die at 5 days old. Too much heat, or cold, drafts, damp living conditions. I would treat SICK chicks but avoid using Antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. Your birds need to develop their own healthy antibodies and they will not do that unless they have an opportunity to establish a healthy immune system.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi Chickennoodle,
That was probably just a misunderstanding.
By antibiotics, they most likely meant Medicated Chick Starter (with Amprolium as an aid to prevent coccidiosis) --- which is not an antibiotic at all.
'Vitamins & Electrolytes for Poultry' is a good thing, I think.
I try to give it to all my birds once a week and whenever anyone is stressed.
Good luck with your new chicks!

Lisa

 

[Lena's Layers]

I am new to this forum. I got my chicks from Murray McMurray. They are almost one year old and are good layers. I have one hen sitting on 4 eggs and will probably hatch in 10 days or so. When I got my chicks I had McMurray give them vaccinations...never lost a chicken all are healthy and I do not feed medicated food. When the new chicks hatch, do I need to vaccinate them too/will they have good defense since mom was vaccinated/or do I do nothing?

 

[robin416]

I'm thinking the same thing, either the feed store is calling Amprollium an antibiotic (happens more than you'd think) or that by hearing "medicated" feed you misunderstood it to mean antibiotics.

 

[keljonma]

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