Anyone Have Problems as a Result of Unmedicated Chick Starter?

[gryeyes]

I always feed medicated feed to my chicks. One time I had a whole, ginormous brooder full of chicks for longer than 8 weeks, because I didn't have their grow-out coop & pen ready for them at that time. Stupidly, I changed them over to non-medicated feed because that is the time I always did it..... but the chicks stayed in that brooder for another 3 weeks.

Within a week of hitting the ground, they got SICK. Within 3 days I had lost 10 of them. I had to treat the whole flock with Corrid V in their water (and now keep that stuff on hand!!!!) The adults were all fine, and so were most of the other younger birds, but that batch o' chicks all got sick. If I'd had any sense at all, I would have realized the Amprolium was well out of their system and therefore could not help them build resistance to the cocci in the flock or on the ground. It rained right about that time and the whole compound was mucky for several days.

I now make an effort to feed the youngsters with medicated feed for at least 3 weeks past the time I put them out in their grow-out quarters.

 

[Tala]

I've never used medicated feed and I also put my chicks out on the ground ASAP. Never had problems.

Perhaps the key to my success is what Ridgerunner said about getting them introduced to it when they are still very young. I don't "baby" my chicks at all. I don't over-clean their environment. I re-use brooder bedding from one batch of chicks to the next if it's clean-enough (because I put them outside early they don't get it very dirty). I use wood pellets that turn to sawdust when they get wet and I don't change it if they spill their water I just let it dry under the heat lamp. Stuff like that.
By some people's standards I should probably have really sick chicks, but I don't. I had to cull one from the feed store that failed to thrive, but it was apparent that there were problems a day or two after I got them. I've had a couple chicks die in accidents, like getting out of the brooder and getting wet or cold not being able to get back to the lamp. But not any that got sick.

 

[8crazychicks]

Quote:
We just brought home our 8 chicks today (we are newbies to this, but I have read a lot and am a biologist who has raised a lot of other animals). My questions is about the feed. I told the lady at the feed store where we bought the chicks we needed chick start. Tonight I looked at the bag and it is Rogue Turkey and Wild Game start. I compared it to the chick start formula and it seems to have a higher protein (28% vs 21%) content as well as a few other minerals. I had not contemplated feeding them medicated feed....and now upon watching them for the day I think at least 2 have 'pasty butt'. One poor girl has feces caked on her feet really bad (which I tried soaking and got the majority off). I also soaked her bottom and she seemed relieved
Anyway, is the turkey and wild game start okay to feed? Should I switch to medicated if a few of my chicks (hatched on 5/4) appear to have pasty butt?
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Medication in the feed has nothing to do with pasty butt (that I know of anyway). The stress from moving them (shipping, feed store, your house) is probably what caused the pasty butt.

 

[flowerhippie]

I am so happy to hear you all talking in the way that I can learn from, I am so pleased to read with a eagerness to hear more. I have also raised my flock on both. with my meat birds I only used one forty pound bag on 175 chicks and then I went to the starter grower that was not medicated. I do not want anything that will overdose them and become a toxic build up. I use the same practice for the laying flock, although if they need a noticeable boost I will give them medicated feed before they are laying. I am really cautious about my feed quality. I have found that the feeds that are generic may not produce as well. I have also seen that there is a change in there fecal matter, When I feed the chick starter that is medicated for to long the feces will be smelly and not firm, also the appearance of color will not be right . This dose not mean that they are sick like some would think. Every spring and winter I use the rototiller in my chicken coop, I take out a good foot or so of soil and apply it to my garden. When I pull weeds I leave the soil on the roots, and dump it into the middle of the yard. I really try to keep up on fresh sandy grit and soil so that they have some clean pickings. My flock is rarely ill and only get ill if they are old or the winter is to cold for there old body's to survive.

 

[flowerhippie]

If they have pasty butt the medicated feed will help allot. the medication will loosen the texture of the fecal matter, and it is very wet when I feed them the medicated food, and when it is pasty it is to dehydrated. sometimes there water has a great deal in pasting up. to help rehydrate the pasting butt, you may want to make a soupy mix of your food and water, I also give a little sugar in the water. I check the butt often and make sure the vent is clear.

 

[debid]

Quote:
This is not true. Amprolium is the most commonly used coccidiostat in the national brands but you MUST check the label on medicated feed to know exactly what it has in it because there ARE others. The label sewed into the seam on the bottom of the sack contains this information. I learned this lesson by buying some medicated feed that contained lasalocid sodium for the coccidiostat (which is a good one -- it actually allows immunity to develop gradually). However, it also contained Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate which is a growth-promoting antibiotic commonly used in large-scale production of broilers. I returned the sack unopened and gave them an earful about misrepresenting their product.

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
We just brought home our 8 chicks today (we are newbies to this, but I have read a lot and am a biologist who has raised a lot of other animals). My questions is about the feed. I told the lady at the feed store where we bought the chicks we needed chick start. Tonight I looked at the bag and it is Rogue Turkey and Wild Game start. I compared it to the chick start formula and it seems to have a higher protein (28% vs 21%) content as well as a few other minerals. I had not contemplated feeding them medicated feed....and now upon watching them for the day I think at least 2 have 'pasty butt'. One poor girl has feces caked on her feet really bad (which I tried soaking and got the majority off). I also soaked her bottom and she seemed relieved
Anyway, is the turkey and wild game start okay to feed? Should I switch to medicated if a few of my chicks (hatched on 5/4) appear to have pasty butt?
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Turkey starter usually contains BMD which is bacitracin and is most commonly used for upper respiratory conditions in chicks. I would not suggest using it on healthy chicks.

 

[catchthewind]

I feed unmedicated feed and did lose a chick to Coccidiosis. However, I firmly believe the feed was the least of my problems. I agree with what Tala and Ridgerunner both said about introducing them early and not babying them too much. I live in a wet, rainy climate with lots of wild birds, so I knew that likely there are Cocci out there. My first batch of chicks had no problems at all. My second batch one of them had bloody poops about four days after first introducing them outside. The rest seemed fine. The biggest issue was that it wasn't until late afternoon and the one feed store I managed to get to before they all closed didn't have medication, so I gave them some ACV and raw milk and hoped for the best overnight. The next morning one was obviously very ill and died about twenty minutes after I got up, and I managed to find some medication later on in the day to treat the rest. Didn't lose any others and to be honest, only one of the others even seemed ill. (The one that had had bloody poops never actually acted sick at all other than the poops.)

I had always meant to introduce some dirt into their brooder for them to play with from early on, to help them slowly build resistance that way. But we're so rainy here, that the dirt was always soggy and I didn't know if that would be a good idea to put in their brooder. The biggest problem though was that they were starting to be very crowded in the brooder. The only difference between the way I managed our two groups of chicks was the age they moved into the bigger brooder, and the ones that moved into the bigger brooder sooner had no problems with Cocci. We were building our coop so that the older batch could go to the coop and the younger batch could move to the bigger brooder, and were so close to it being done but things kept coming up, or it would start pouring, or we'd realize we were out of something and the store was closed. Due to work schedules and such, we couldn't work on it most days, so it ended up taking us 2-3 weeks longer than we'd hoped and we finally finished it in the pouring rain. Had I known it was going to take that long, I would have cut down some large cardboard boxes and moved the babies to something bigger, and I regret that I didn't. I tried to keep their brooder really clean, but it's hard when it's over crowded. I don't regret not feeding them medicated feed though. If we do chicks again next year, I will introduce dirt from outside for them to play with, make sure they always have enough room, and have medication for Cocci on hand beforehand just in case, since it seems to be really hard to find around here.