Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Chicks

[VTChick10]

I am asking here because I have poured over countless threads and am not finding answers to my specific situation. I am hoping someone much more experienced than I can assist! Thank you in advance. I have a two part question;
1) I just successfully hatched 2 chicks in an incubator from eggs of one of my bantam hens. The flock is a year old, and were all purchased at the same time from TSC. Am I safe to introduce my newly hatched (unvaxxed) chicks to the flock in a few months? I was told to buy medicated feed for them… is this the safest plan? How long do they need it?
2) I have 16 chicks coming from McMurrays in 2 weeks. I chose to have them vaccinated for Mareks and Coccidiosis, as my flock at the time of purchase consisted of only vaccinated birds. When can I add the chicks, both vaxxed and unvaxxed, together (if at all) before/with the older birds?
All of my chickens are healthy. I haven’t seen any “sick” birds. I have seen too many conflicting threads. I know people hatch their own chickens and keep expanding their flocks- what are the tricks to this? How do I do this safely?

 

[Stravager]

Thanks for the confidence! I believe this. I’m mostly just trying to figure out when they can all meet eachother. I’ve never used medicated feed and it was recommended to me to use on the new hatched chicks for a few weeks at least. My concern of course is when can I stop this feed, and how will it affect all parties involved? Can the chicks coming in two weeks be added directly in with my two newly hatched chicks in the brooder?

If you're using medicated feed for Cocci then I will link this wonderful post here by Ridgerunner that has been super helpful in the past:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...medicated-chick-starter.1615218/post-27588803
If you have vax'ed chicks and they eat the medicated feed it will cancel out your vax and you'll essentially have unvax'ed chicks again.

 

[nuthatched]

Thanks for the confidence! I believe this. I’m mostly just trying to figure out when they can all meet eachother. I’ve never used medicated feed and it was recommended to me to use on the new hatched chicks for a few weeks at least. My concern of course is when can I stop this feed, and how will it affect all parties involved? Can the chicks coming in two weeks be added directly in with my two newly hatched chicks in the brooder?

Medicated feed only contains amprollium, a coccistat. It helps reduce the coccidia to reduce the chances of it taking over. If your chicks aren't exposed to dirt or adult birds, they don't need the medicated feed at all. Medicated feed shouldn't be fed to coccidiosis vaccinated chicks or it cancels out the vaccine. You can mix them all together and feed them all normal growing

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Congrats on the new hatch! I've had both vaccinated and unvaccinated chickens and chicks together. For my bantams, I had never vaccinated them. The chicks should be fine with your vaccinated flock and vise versa. The only concern is (though I haven't had an issue with it yet) is the vaccines shedding onto the unvaccinated, giving them the disease. Again, with me mixing my vaccinated and unvaccinated chicks together, I haven't had an issue and both stayed perfectly healthy.

I'm assuming the parents to these chicks were vaccinated, correct? When it comes to breeding chickens, the parents' immunity will be passed down to their offspring. (This is why it is good to breed older birds, as they've been exposed to more, thus passing down a stronger immune system.)

On your question one, is these bantams going into a bantam flock? If so, they should be fine to add at 3-4 months old. What breeds are they and the flock they are going in? Some breeds are more aggressive, so that will have an effect on the age you should add them. A lot of your Game breeds were once bred for cockfighting (now for show), so the roosters should always be kept separate, even as young as 4 months old.

On medicated feed, I have either given my chicks starter mash, or game bird crumbles. I don't see medicated feed as highly important, especially if your parent flock and the chicks themselves are healthy. Keeping their brooder and water supply clean is typically more important. Adding electrolytes to their water every once and awhile might be good as well, though if they're healthy, I wouldn't bother.

On your second question, are these chicks from the hatchery standards or bantams? Bantams and standards should be kept separate. For the first 48 hours to week from them arriving, they should be watched closely and kept in a peaceful, quiet place so they can recover from their long trip. I suggest giving them electrolytes in their water. They'll be stressed, so adding them to older, more active chicks might be too much for them.

If you are going to add them in with the unvaccinated chicks, I would do so when they're two weeks old (the older chicks should be four weeks old at this time). At that age, they will be stronger, and to settle their pecking order, they do it by height, not pecks (so it is easier to establish it while they are still young). Then together, when the youngest batch is 3-4 months old, it should be safe to add them to the adult flock. (Again, do not mix bantams and standards together.)

On your last question, my biggest suggestion/warning is do not breed brothers to sisters in your flocks. Unless you are doing line breeding, you want to introduce a non-related parent to every new generation that you hatch. (If you have multiple roosters or flocks of the same breed that isn't related, that would be your easiest route.) Breed your quality birds and sell off the non-quality birds to keep your stock good. If you're breeding a specific breed, keep your lines pure, and separate all the birds that isn't the same breed. If you have any deformities, leakage, or any other unwanted qualities in your flock, separate them before breeding (better yet, sell them off so they're never a concern).

Would you be interested in becoming NPIP certified? If you’re looking to sell off a lot of your breedings, this is something people may look for when buying chicks.

Hopefully I answered all your questions and that you've found this post helpful. Best of luck with your new chicks and breeding!

~Lacy Duckwing

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might try following the link in @Stravager 's post above, post #4. It should answer most of your questions about medicated feed and Coccidiosis. I'll try to give a few highlights but it can get confusing with all the "if's.

You need to check what medicine is in medicated feed. Usually in the USA it is Amprolium but there are a few that have something else.

Feeding them medicated feed does no good unless they have been exposed to the protozoa that causes Coccidiosis.

Vaccinated chicks cannot pass a virus on to other chickens. The vaccine is made from a form of Marek's virus that affect only turkeys, not chickens. The vaccine does not stop them catching Marek's, it stops the tumors that cause the problems from forming.

Parents cannot pass protection they get from vaccination to their chicks, either through the eggs or in person. It just doesn't work that way.

I just saw your post where you did follow that link. You can feed that medicated feed to not vaccinated chicks if you wish. It will not hurt them. I'd only feed the medicated feed to them and not mix it with any other feed until it is gone. Otherwise you can water down the dosage of the Amprolium to where it doesn't help you if you need the help. But remember, if you feed medicated feed to vaccinated chicks you can negate the vaccination.

They will still get the immunity if you feed them dirt from the run if you already have that protozoa in your flock. If you don't have it present they will not get any immunity from the medicated feed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I raise my chicks either in the brooder in the coop or let a broody hen raise them, either hatched myself or mailed from a hatchery. They are exposed from Day 1 to whatever the flock has. I feed dirt from the run to my brooder chicks to expose them by the second or third day in the brooder. The chicks with the broody hens get exposed by the broody. I don't try to isolate them at all. I try not to.

If you keep the brooder dry the odds of them having any problems with Coccidiosis are pretty low. That's if it is even present to start with. I know I have it in my soil as a broody hen's chicks had a problem when the weather stayed wet for a couple of weeks. I've never lost a chick from Coccidiosis.

One of the first thing a broody hen does is take her chicks to an area where they can peck at the ground. That gets grit in their system as well as immediately exposes them to whatever may be in the dirt so they can start developing the immunities they need. The only real prevention I do (other than keeping the brooder dry) is to expose them as soon as I can so they start working on their immunities.

You seem to really want to protect them by preventing them from being exposed. To me the best way to protect them is to expose them and get them immune so you don't have to worry about it. Their biggest exposure will come when they first hit the ground. I want my brooder chicks immune before they hit the ground.

 

[Stravager]

I can also use both the medicated feed and feed them dirt every three days for at least a few weeks, correct? Unless I’m misunderstanding, that would be beneficial too. And then I wouldn’t waste what I’ve purchased?!

Essentially yes, because the dirt will contain the Cocci strain your chickens have and the medicated feed will slow the Cocci down in their system.

 

[VTChick10]

I raise my chicks either in the brooder in the coop or let a broody hen raise them, either hatched myself or mailed from a hatchery. They are exposed from Day 1 to whatever the flock has. I feed dirt from the run to my brooder chicks to expose them by the second or third day in the brooder. The chicks with the broody hens get exposed by the broody. I don't try to isolate them at all. I try not to.

If you keep the brooder dry the odds of them having any problems with Coccidiosis are pretty low. That's if it is even present to start with. I know I have it in my soil as a broody hen's chicks had a problem when the weather stayed wet for a couple of weeks. I've never lost a chick from Coccidiosis.

One of the first thing a broody hen does is take her chicks to an area where they can peck at the ground. That gets grit in their system as well as immediately exposes them to whatever may be in the dirt so they can start developing the immunities they need. The only real prevention I do (other than keeping the brooder dry) is to expose them as soon as I can so they start working on their immunities.

You seem to really want to protect them by preventing them from being exposed. To me the best way to protect them is to expose them and get them immune so you don't have to worry about it. Their biggest exposure will come when they first hit the ground. I want my brooder chicks immune before they hit the ground.

Hey Again, actually I feel quite the opposite! I WANT to expose them as early as they can handle the exposure. My questions stem from the inconsistency I have read all morning on different sites, etc. on how to go about this. I wasn’t sure before posting my own question just how early I can do this, if it’s safe at all to mix vaxxed/unvaxxed so early, and what the medicated feed that was suggested to me actually served for purpose (just to assist in prevention), etc. I guess I have felt a bit of a rush to figure it out because I have these other chicks coming in two weeks and I wanted to know the best way to keep all extremely young babies safest. I believe in exposing my own children to germs to get “immune”… I completely understand how this should work in most environments. I have learned so much through you and some others that have commented! I had a fear of feeding the medicated food and having them end up getting “sick” months from now when they’re added to the coop. This is my second year with chickens. First from mail ordered. And first time hatching chicks. All within a few weeks! I’m a little overwhelmed and am glad I asked the questions I did.

 

[nuthatched]

Theyll all be fine.

 

[VTChick10]

Theyll all be fine.

Thanks for the confidence! I believe this. I’m mostly just trying to figure out when they can all meet eachother. I’ve never used medicated feed and it was recommended to me to use on the new hatched chicks for a few weeks at least. My concern of course is when can I stop this feed, and how will it affect all parties involved? Can the chicks coming in two weeks be added directly in with my two newly hatched chicks in the brooder?