Medicated Starter Feed

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texas_chick

texas_chick

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So what's in medicated starter feed? How prevalent are the diseases it's trying to prevent?
Thanks in Advance!
 
The medicine typical used in chick starter is amprolium (sp?). It's used to aid in the prevention of coccidiosis. Cocci' can kill a young chick very quickly.
IMO, feeding medicated chick starter is an easy, inexpensive way to protect young chicks.
ETA: How prevelant is coccidia? Very! It can lay dormant in the soil for a long time and re-emerge when chickens are introduced to the chicken yard.
 
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Oh I see! So can I eventually switch to a non medicated feed (like is it less dangerous in older chickens?) or would you always buy medicated feed?
 
It's less of a threat to an adult chicken. Seperate chick starter and grower aren't readily available around here. Therefore, I fed medicated starter/grower until I got my first egg; then switched to the layer pellets which are not medicated.
ETA: In some places you may be able to find a seperate non-medicated grower feed. I believe you make the switch from starter to grower @ 6 to 8 weeks, but I'm not sure. You can read the feeding instructions on the bag to be sure.
 
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Basically, the drug acts as a thamine inhibitor in the intestines of the chicks that prevents cocci from reproducing. This way, when they eat the cocci in the soil, which is a protozoa, they can build up their own natural immunity to it. That does mean though, exposing your chicks to their future run early on is a good idea, so that they have something to build an immunity to!
 
Quote:
Yep! My chicks were scratching around in the dirt by the time they were two weeks old.
 
Interesting! Thanks
smile.png

So how long does it take to build immunity?
A couple of weeks?
 
Mine also stay on Medicated til they are ready to lay.
 
I started my chicks on non-medicated feed - they're about 4 weeks old and I'm wondering if I need to switch to medicated? There have never to my knowledge been chickens in our backyard before . . . but I let the chicks out to play in the back last weekend for an hour or so and they had fun scratching around in the dirt. Should I be worried?
 

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