Chick Feed

[Under His Wing]

Hi, Wondering if you can mix medicated chick feed with regular chick feed?
my chicks were not vaccinated. Does it make a difference if it were done that way?
Thank You
Blessing's

 

[MountainWoman73]

The medication in medicated chick feed is usually amprolium, which kills coccidiosis by blocking the absorption of B-vitamins. If you mix it with non-medicated feed, the medication will be at a lower dose and will be ineffective. Also, if they get any b-vitamin supplements the medication is ineffective. It won't hurt them, but they won't be protected against coccidiosis.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I agree. The Medicated feed has the minimum amount of medication in it.
Feed just the medicated feed.
Tightly close the Non-Medicated feed with a bag clip and store inside at room temperature till you finish the medicated feed. .

I feed Medicated Start & Grow for 10 weeks, then when bag is empty I switch to Non-Medicated Starter-Grower. GC

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'd pick one or the other.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

I would use up the medicated for them first, then switch over to the non medicated. By that time they will have learned that eating poop is nasty and won't need the meds.

 

[Chickweed9]

Hi, Wondering if you can mix medicated chick feed with regular chick feed?
my chicks were not vaccinated. Does it make a difference if it were done that way?
Thank You
Blessing's

Newbie here, so wondering if chicken vaccinations are something I need to worry about. I honestly didn’t even know you were supposed to vaccinate chickens.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

If your a commercial producer with 1000's of birds that are shoe horned into a tiny space, then yes, vaccines, medicated feeds, and antibiotics are very necessary.

Typically none of those is necessary for a small flock with lots of space.

 

[Folly's place]

You want to feed the feed with amprolium until your chicks have been out on your ground for a couple of weeks. It's meant to help them develop some immunity to an overwhelming load of coccidia in the soil, so stopping the diet before soil exposure does nothing for them.
Most small flock owners who don't take their birds to poultry shows leave out almost all the possible vaccines available.
The exceptions are Marek's vaccine, given at the hatchery to day old chicks, if you order it, and the coccidiosis 'vaccine', which is a low dose of a less aggressive strain of coccidia, meant to help them too. I have my chicks from hatcheries vaccinated against Marek's disease, and skip the other.
One feeding of amprolium treated feed wipes out the coccidiosis 'vaccine' and IMO it's not worth the money.
Some flocks will have bad problems with coccidiosis, unless the chicks get medicated feed. Other flocks never have issues, although that could change any given year, depending on soil conditions.
Mary

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Birds I buy from small farms or hatch out I don’t vaccinate, but do feed medicated feed.

For chicks I order from hatcheries, I get both vaccines. For a recent order, vaccines were 20 cents each...so $10.80 per vaccine for the 54 chicks I ordered (~$22 total).