California - Northern

[juststruttin]

We are getting ours from JustStruttin and super excited about it! We havn't seen their eggs yet so I can't say how white they are.

I too am finding that this time of year is extremely difficult to nail down certain breeds. These MFL are a unique opportunity that we are grateful for! Can hardly wait to get our birds settled in.

We use lights in the houses so I expect they will start laying again in a month or so. Here in the Central Valley our weather isn't terrible. Our experience is that with lights the production is reduced but doesn't disappear. What is your experience?

The MFL eggs are often beige.I only hatch the white eggs and yet the offspring frequently will lay beige eggs. The MFL should be considered a project as type, egg color and egg size need work. MFL eggs are medium not extra large like their production white leghorn cousins. On a positive side: production is good and they are non-broody.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
Benefits of not using medicated feed:

1. The medication in the food blocks niacin absorption (to prevent rapid cocci growth, since cocci absorbs niacin to grow). Apparently niacin is necessary for energy and thinking and a deficiency causes intolerance to cold. There are diseases from lack of niacin that can kill. Severe deficiency of niacin in the diet causes the disease pellagra, which is characterized by diarrhea, dermatitis, and dementia, as well as “Casal's necklace” lesions on the lower neck, hyperpigmentation, thickening of the skin, inflammation of the mouth and tongue, digestive disturbances, amnesia, delirium, and eventually death, if left untreated. This is in Humans. I wonder what it will do to chickens? Especially teeny growing chickens? We have had problems with SFH having curled toes that may be linked to medicated feed - that was when I stopped feeding it.
2. Using Flock Raiser instead of medicated feed means that everybody can eat the same thing so I don't have to separately feed the broody hens and the chicks and the growing birds. It is also less expensive.
3. The birds get their immunity from their bodies - not from medication. I think it makes for stronger birds in the long run. Just a theory so far. They seem to not only get immunity from cocci but possibly from other things, no medications needed so far this year. Very healthy happy birds.
4. I ferment my feed. I am not sure if that would negate the medication effects, and I know it allows for more of the protein to be used so it might allow more of the niacin to be used as well.. I don't know.

With medicated feed you can still have problems and it will kill chicks if not treated when they show signs. The medication is at a low dosage (to prevent the serious niacin deficiencies) but sometimes its not enough. The chicks I lost to cocci were on medicated feed.

If somebody wants to do a side-by-side study of feeding the two different feeds to a single batch of chicks, I would be interested in the outcome. Until then I think so far my "new" method is working better than my "old" method - so I will stick with it.

 

[ronott1]

I thought medicated starter was, not 100%, but a huge boost to not getting cocci. What are the benefits on not using medicated? Never had it, so what are the signs of cocci?

They do not make Soy and Corn free Medicated starter.

My chickens eat GMO Free feed.

 

[ronott1]

Benefits of not using medicated feed:

1. The medication in the food blocks niacin absorption (to prevent rapid cocci growth, since cocci absorbs niacin to grow). Apparently niacin is necessary for energy and thinking and a deficiency causes intolerance to cold. There are diseases from lack of niacin that can kill. Severe deficiency of niacin in the diet causes the disease pellagra, which is characterized by diarrhea, dermatitis, and dementia, as well as “Casal's necklace” lesions on the lower neck, hyperpigmentation, thickening of the skin, inflammation of the mouth and tongue, digestive disturbances, amnesia, delirium, and eventually death, if left untreated. This is in Humans. I wonder what it will do to chickens? Especially teeny growing chickens? We have had problems with SFH having curled toes that may be linked to medicated feed - that was when I stopped feeding it.
2. Using Flock Raiser instead of medicated feed means that everybody can eat the same thing so I don't have to separately feed the broody hens and the chicks and the growing birds. It is also less expensive.
3. The birds get their immunity from their bodies - not from medication. I think it makes for stronger birds in the long run. Just a theory so far. They seem to not only get immunity from cocci but possibly from other things, no medications needed so far this year. Very healthy happy birds.
4. I ferment my feed. I am not sure if that would negate the medication effects, and I know it allows for more of the protein to be used so it might allow more of the niacin to be used as well.. I don't know.

With medicated feed you can still have problems and it will kill chicks if not treated when they show signs. The medication is at a low dosage (to prevent the serious niacin deficiencies) but sometimes its not enough. The chicks I lost to cocci were on medicated feed.

If somebody wants to do a side-by-side study of feeding the two different feeds to a single batch of chicks, I would be interested in the outcome. Until then I think so far my "new" method is working better than my "old" method - so I will stick with it.

Fermenting makes soy healthy.

 

[chiqita]

I never got her to explain it but a vet who seens to be a chicken expert said medicated feed does not help chicks not with a hen and outside. So I no longer use it.

 

[ronott1]

I never got her to explain it but a vet who seens to be a chicken expert said medicated feed does not help chicks not with a hen and outside. So I no longer use it.

The medicated feed is not strong enough to kill the Cocci cysts. The Hen outside will provide a limited exposure that the medicated feed will suppress enough until the chick builds resistance.

It is similar to giving them the treatment dose for five to seven days and then a half dose for five to seven days.

 

[alibra]

I'd ask questions on this one before buying and want to see the parent stock.  Greenfire imported bantam silvers, but I don't know of anyone that imported LF silvers.  These could be a project that some are working on (and from the pictures it leads me to believe they are) crossing Barnevelders to Silver Pencilled Rocks.  That isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just good to know what you are dealing with.  Crossing breeds is a more labor intensive job to get back to Barnevelder type.

Good point!

 

[chrissyr]

The medicated feed is not strong enough to kill the Cocci cysts. The Hen outside will provide a limited exposure that the medicated feed will suppress enough until the chick builds resistance.

It is similar to giving them the treatment dose for five to seven days and then a half dose for five to seven days.

So why is the hen exposure limited? I would think that it would be an overload if the run the same grounds, right? How long until resistance develops? Interesting stuff here

 

[ronott1]

So why is the hen exposure limited? I would think that it would be an overload if the run the same grounds, right? How long until resistance develops? Interesting stuff here

Outside, the chicks get a low level of cocci so the feed keeps the cysts down to a low enough level to let the chicks immune system time to build resistance. In the brooder, they get a big load that kills them before they can build up resistance.

It is the location and the ability to move around that makes the difference level lower. Brooding in a box in the garage for example compared to being outside is what makes the difference.

Like capayvalleychick posted, it depends on were you live. I brood inside so the Medicated feed would probably not do me any good. Corid was $25 bucks and I have had the same bag of it for more than a year. I would rather treat when there is an illness than to treat all the time with medicated feed.

Like was posted today, the medicine disrupts niacin--causes neurological problems sometimes. Poultry feed is not tested that often by the Government. They do not even need to change the ingredient label when they change an ingredient in it unless the change is something like 6 months. The amount of medicine could be way off in a batch and no one would know.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Outside, the chicks get a low level of cocci so the feed keeps the cysts down to a low enough level to let the chicks immune system time to build resistance. In the brooder, they get a big load that kills them before they can build up resistance.

It is the location and the ability to move around that makes the difference level lower. Brooding in a box in the garage for example compared to being outside is what makes the difference.

Like capayvalleychick posted, it depends on were you live. I brood inside so the Medicated feed would probably not do me any good. Corid was $25 bucks and I have had the same bag of it for more than a year. I would rather treat when there is an illness than to treat all the time with medicated feed.

Like was posted today, the medicine disrupts niacin--causes neurological problems sometimes. Poultry feed is not tested that often by the Government. They do not even need to change the ingredient label when they change an ingredient in it unless the change is something like 6 months. The amount of medicine could be way off in a batch and no one would know.

I throw dirt in my brooder. I am not sure if it helps but seems like a good idea since they kick around in it. I have not had any issues either so I will keep flinging dirt in there.