I'm raising my first chicks, which are 1 week old today, and I'm new to the feed-buying experience. Some of you may laugh at my stupidity below: I've decided to feed my first chicks medicated feed, and my 5-lb bag of Manna Pro feed is getting low already, so I decided to take a drive out to an Agway to see if I could get a replacement. The feed store did have the 5 lb bags, but the sales girl advised me that I could get the 50lb bag for about twice the price of the 5 lb bag. I assumed it would be the same feed/brand. When I went to the loading dock, however, I was presented with a bag of "Southern States" branded feed, labeled on the bag as Layer & Broiler feed. I said to the kid, "Oh, no, I need the chick feed--medicated chick feed." He showed me the tag that was stitched onto the bag and informed me that it was chick feed, that they use the same bags for everything. It did read "Chick Start and Grow" and says it's medicated. I was puzzled, "But it's a different brand?!" "They're all the same" he told me. What is going on, here? Is this the same quality feed as the Manna Pro? How do I even know if they sewed on the right tag, and it's not actually layer feed, as it says on the outer bag? I don't want to sound like a snob, but I just want the best quality food available for my babies, and I'm willing to pay more for it. If it means continuing to buy 5 lb bags at $9 a bag, so be it. My 5 chicks are pets and mean as much to me as my cat and dog. Also, I'd love to hear recommendations and/or online sources of other brands of medicated food. I realize there is some debate about medicated feed, but I've already decided to go that route and that ship has sailed. In time, I will be willing to switch over to a high-quality organic and/or soy-free feed.
I would think the tag that is sewn on is correct, but I hope you are not paying $9 for a 5 lb bag. It should be about half that, I think. I fed mine medicated, too. They didn't go through 50 lbs of starter before they went to "grower." The bags are very confusing, I agree. Mine don't seem to like their feed very well, not nearly as well as the starter. Of course, with 99 degree weather, who wants to eat, anyway?
Yes the do use the same bag for different feeds. I use to work in a grain mill and my first time on the machine I ran out of bags and went and search the whole warehouse for more and was told to use a different bag. It all depends on what bag are in stock at the time of bagging. So just make sure it was tag correctly. Once ya get use to ever thing ya can tell what feed ya have just by the smell of the feed and the looks of it when the bag is open.
