Do you provide local soil to young chicks instead of medicated feed to build immunity and prevent Coccidiosis? What were your results?

[HollowOfWisps]

This poll was created mainly out of curiosity. Many of the “I do this because the old farmer next door told me that he has always done this” tidbits of chicken raising information I don’t necessarily agree with unless there is science to back it up or I have tested the method myself. One of these old methods that my grandfather always swore by is providing a small tray of local soil from day 1 for the chicks to play in . This way they are immediately exposed and can build an immunity to all of the microscopic goodness living in it instead of being raised in a semi-sterile environment where they have no immunity. When we bought our farm and I got back into chickens I decided to try this method on my first batch of chicks. No medicated feed, just a tray full of dirt and some corrid on hand just in case. I had no cases of Coccidiosis with that batch so I continued to do this with each batch of chicks since. I still have that unopened bottle of corrid in my first aid kit. I am curious how many others out there use this same method and also have never had to treat for Coccidiosis?

 

[DonyaQuick]

I haven't raised a ton of chicks but have did one batch of store-bought chicks then hatched twice. I haven't given dirt in a tray starting day 1, but did so after a few days. Never used medicated feed. I did have to treat for coccidiosis once because one pullet had trouble after integration with the main flock, which I put down to stress more than anything since that bird was at least a couple months old and had been outside a lot already.

One of the things I realized by doing the broody hen incubation method is that the chicks hatched that way get exposed to dirt from day one in when the broody is in the house. The broody had to dust bathe outside and she trotted some of that dust right back into the nest each day. So the chicks basically hatched out into nesting material with trace amounts of outside dirt already mixed in.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

I give my chicks a container of our soil to dust-bathe and peck in from day one of getting them and I’ve never had a chicken get coccidiosis! I don’t give the medicated feed either. I like to put a little soil from my chicken yard in the mix to expose them to the flock ‘germs’ and have had no issues with any illness either.

 

[NatJ]

I have never had to treat for coccidiosis.
I have never used medicated feed.

I've provided soil for some batches of chicks but not for others.
I just put a shovelful of soil or a clump of sod somewhere in the brooder, when I provided it at all.

I've had some chicks raised outdoors with broody hens, which would have some access to soil.

For chicks raised without a broody hen, my preferred chick-bedding is paper towel over newspaper for the first few days, then dry leaves and other locally-available materials thereafter. I don't know if the dry leaves and such would have the same effect as soil. I've also had chicks raised on newspaper for weeks, and I think one batch years ago on pine shavings, and they were fine too.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I've raised 3 batches of chicks so far. Non medicated feed in all cases.

First batch was raised indoors for 5 weeks, no outside soil or plant material added, and a couple weeks after they went out, one bird developed very typical coccidiosis symptoms and the group was successfully treated with Corid.

Second and third batches of chicks were raised outdoors, which means run litter exposure from 3 days on. None of those chicks have had issues with coccidiosis.

 

[Perris]

All chicks here are raised by broodies and are out on pasture from day 2, so are exposed to the soil here and whatever else the broody sees fit. I don't give commercial feed and I've not had to treat birds for coccidiosis.

 

[Red Horse]

My first chickens are 9mos old now and I raised them on medicated feed. I started putting dirt in the brooder at about 3 weeks when I also started taking them outside. As soon as I started slowly switching them off the medicated and onto a layer crumble, they got coccidiosis and took turns getting it for months instead of just all getting it at the same time and getting it over with. I switched them over to flock raiser while they were sick because I hoped the extra protein would help and thought it was probably better for the boys anyway. If the next batch of chicks don't come from my current flock, you bet I'll have dirt in that brooder on day 1 instead of further down the road, and they'll be visiting outside much sooner, and won't bother with medicated feed.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I used medicated feed the first time for 6wks. I started them outside at 2.5 wks last brood.

This brood is also on medicated feed. they are outdoors in their coop.
At the advice of @rosemarythyme i dug up a lump of soil and grass from their run and placed it in the coop for them. I've seen many of them enjoying the grass and soil.

 

[theoldchick]

No. Not as new hatch, especially if the chicks came from a hatchery.

 

[Shadrach]

This is yet another of those problems brought about by hatching chicks in an incubator and keeping them in an brooder.
Coccidia isn't uniformly distributed over an area. Some areas of ground may have a high concentration while others perhaps none at all.
I've used medicated feed in areas where it was known that Coccidia was in the environment and in other places relied on natural immunity to develop over time.

I don't use indoor brooders but then again I don't buy chicks. The mothers usually have their chicks out and about on day two and the chicks eat what mum tells them is okay. I kept a bottle of Coccivex at hand just in case and this worked out well.