Can my chicks go off medicated feed at 3 weeks?

[4urbanchicks]

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Yes. Or you can just keep feeding them whatever unmedicated feed you choose after they're outside also. Just be sure to keep the medicine on hand for an actual outbreak.

Will I easily be able to spot an outbreak once they are outside? I watch them so close in the brooder, but I am thinking once they are outside in the chicken tractor I will not see their poop as easily, since they will be in their run as well as the upstairs hen house. Are the symptoms really obvious, and can they be reversed quickly with the Corid?

 

[NevadaRon]

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I can't get non-medicated here (N. Nevada), either, unless I buy it in 5 pound bags, which are expensive and don't last my 10 pullets very long. But the feed store told me that the Purina Flock Raiser, which is normally for other types of poultry, is exactly the same formula as the non-medicated Purina Start & Grow.

 

[speckledhen]

I can't get non-medicated FlockRaiser here unless I special order it. The Purina stores here carry only medicated, which is weird to me. Could be because cocci is so bad here in the soupy south, but not sure.

 

[PunkinPeep]

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You'll just want to keep an eye on their poop wherever they roost. They poop most at night, so that will be the easiest place. You're looking for bloody poop. Also, keep in mind the time table (close to 2 weeks of being outside) to keep an extra close eye. Also, if they're getting sick, you'll notice one of them kind of fluffed up, lethargic, and not hanging out with the others.

If you saw someone being lethargic like that near the 2 week mark, i would medicate everyone immediately and not worry about looking for bloody poop or anything.

Corid usually works very quickly.

 

[PunkinPeep]

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I can't get non-medicated here (N. Nevada), either, unless I buy it in 5 pound bags, which are expensive and don't last my 10 pullets very long. But the feed store told me that the Purina Flock Raiser, which is normally for other types of poultry, is exactly the same formula as the non-medicated Purina Start & Grow.

This information is incorrect. In my desperation to find non-medicated feed, i had Purina send me product sheets on every one of their poultry feeds. The start-n-grow and flock raiser are NOT the same formula. I can email you the product sheets if you like. I don't have a problem with the flock raiser (necessarily), and i use it, but be sure to read the product sheets yourself and be sure about that kind of information.

I have the same problem as SpeckledHen with the non-medicated crumbles. For some reason, whatever processing location is near me - what can be delivered to my location - can send the pellets but not the crumbles of non-medicated. I also ended up going with the flock raiser so that i could feed it to my whole gang, since all of my different age chickens eat together. I had to buddy up to my feed store lady (thankfully, she's a neighbor) and talk her into ordering non-medicated feed for me. Normally, they would never carry it, which to me, is ridiculous.

 

[chicknerd]

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My very first set of chicks on this property got a good case of cocci, so i would say yes, assume that the protozoa are in your soil. Whether you decide to continue with medicated feed or not, please do purchase a small bottle of liquid Amprolium 9.6%, most often under the brand name Corid, just in case. I can't speak for other areas of the country, but around here i expect chicks who are not exposed to the ground beginning their first week of life, to get Cocci about 2 weeks after exposure, whether on medicated feed or not.

As a newbie I had no idea they could get it from the soil. I have chicks from 4-9 weeks old. Several days after spending most of the day outside mine contracted cocci, even though they had been on the amprolium 'medicated' feed. I did get Corid and they are finishing a round of treatment. Everyone is fine. I was told the level of amprolium in medicated feed is at a prophylactic level only and it takes a while (many weeks) for the chicks to develop resistance. So if they haven't fully developed a resistance and come in contact with it, they are going to get it, medicated feed or not.

 

[NevadaRon]

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That figures. Trust no one, eh

? Please do eMail me those product sheets; thank you!

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I was told by my feed store (FWIW - see above) that in California, which is apparently where their supplier is, it is illegal to give commercial chickens non-medicated feed. So the "logic" goes - if you are buying 50 lb. bags you must be a commercial producer - rather than someone just trying to save some money!

 

[grandmaof5]

so do I understand correctly that if chicks are outside on soil ground at day one or close to that, they can build up a natural immunity to cocci? I am confused; I'd rather not use medicated if I can, but I'm not sure ...

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, the sooner they touch ground, the better, really, as far as cocci is concerned. My chicks raised by a broody never get cocci and they are on soil from their first week of life--they also are tasting mama's poop, which probably is like being innoculated against it. The ones who are in a brooder indoors for up to four weeks or so always have an outbreak within the first two or three weeks after they go out to the grow-out coop.

 

[grandmaof5]

I'll be getting chicks in about 2 weeks; they will probably be day or 2 day-olds when I get them. Obviously they won't be feathered out, but if it is very warm outside, can I take them our for a few minutes at mid-day, just so they can be on the ground? I want to do this as 'natural' as possible, but I also don't want to lose any of my 3 (maybe 4) chicks. Years ago when my children were young and we had layers, I did it all as told by the feedstore, but this time I'm getting a breed I've been looking for and only 3 or 4, so want to do it 'right'.