You can ferment medicated feed. It may or may not neutralize the Amprolium in the feed. IMO, if a flock is handled correctly, Amprolium is absolutely not needed. It is a Thiamine blocker. My thought is that if it blocks Thiamine uptake in the cocci, what is it doing in the chick? Give those chicks a healthy gut flora and the cocci will never be an issue. (Cocci are a natural flora in a chicken gut, and only becomes problematic when they outnumber the good microbes.) The second prong of developing good immunity includes giving those chicks a plug of sod (untreated lawn) to help load their guts with beneficial bacteria and fungi. Best to start this within the first 2 weeks of a chick's life when she has the most active antibodies received from her mother.
If your water is chlorinated, the chlorine will out gas simply by leaving the water in an open container overnight. Agitating it will help it to gas off. However, chloramine is much more stable and difficult to remove. Check to see which product your water district uses. If you are starting your culture, you should not put a lid on it, or cover it in any way. It gets colonized by the natural bacteria and yeast that is floating around in ALL air. Once you have a good brew going, you can cover it lightly. The only reason I ever cover mine is b/c my hubby finds the odor objectionable, and my dog would eat half a bucket if it was not covered. I have been keeping it upstairs recently to take advantage of the heat from wood stove. I find that simply placing a plastic grocery store bag over it keeps odors in and dog out.
Last edited:
