Chicken feed, medicated or not?

keep him warm --that will be very important --heat till he gets his feathers. he will be very lonely. get the word out and see if someone can sit with him during the day or someone might have some babies to share with you. start with your local vet and see who they know. also, check your local feed stores or hareware stores that sell feed. most of them will know customers that are buying poultry food and might be able to give you names of people who can help you locally.
 
also, people on this website might be able to help you also if they knew what general area you were in. there are a lot of people within a 2 to 3 hour radius from where I am. you might be surprised if there was someone close by you
 
A mirror on the side of the cage (like they do with parrots) seems to work with single chicks if you can't find another one. Putting a stuffed animal or something like that for them to get under helps. Make sure you have a good heat source for him since he doesn't have anybody to help keep him warm. I would get at least one more if possible as close in age as you can in the next couple of weeks. You could always have day olds shipped from a hatchery and sell most of them if you can't find any chicks locally. And as Houseofknouss suggested, start another thread, there maybe someone local to you on byc with chicks and help with raising the little guy you already have.
 
A mirror on the side of the cage (like they do with parrots) seems to work with single chicks if you can't find another one.
^^^^ THIS^^^^

I have had two lone chicks hatch so far. The first one was incredibly loud, and I came to these forums and someone suggested a mirror. I only had a 12" oval mirror meant to hang on the wall for decoration, but it fit in the cage and it worked like a charm!

The second lone hatch I got has been really quiet. His egg was laid while hens were sitting on their own eggs (someone pushed a sitting hen out of the nest, laid her own, and then sitting hen went back in), so he was unexpected. I did not put a mirror in there, but he hardly made a sound. But I wanted him to be comfortable around other chickens, so I finally did get one in there.
 
As for the medicated feed thing.... I actually don't use it UNLESS there is a problem in my flock. I recently ran into a respiratory infection that is affecting the entire flock, so I put all of them on medicated feed - including the babies who are kept indoors. The medicated feed doesn't treat the respiratory infection, but I put them all on it to prevent secondary infections.

The good news is, both the respiratory infection, and the medicated feed, are on their way out at the same time! I haven't seen anyone sick for about a week now, and I've got about two more feedings with medicated crumbles before the bag is empty. But thankfully, I already have the normal feed on back-up.
 
doesn't the medicated feed have amp in it?--the stuff I get does----


Ya, Amprolium is what is in most medicated chick feed, and is the active ingredient in Corid (and a bunch of other brand names). It is just different concentrations, the concentration in medicated feed is really low since it is meant to help our chicks keep from having an outbreak of coccidia when exposed to it but still be able to build up their own immunity to it. Medicated feed is not meant to treat coccidia, you need Corid or something with a higher concentration for that. Amp is usually recommended to try first since it is easier on the chicks and has a higher safety margin than the sulfa drugs.

If you are actually going to have new (older) chicks in a brooder and not outside right away, I would do as Eggcessive suggested and go the lump of dirt route like you would your own baby chicks, same idea. Just keep an eye on them since even if they are healthy and happy, moving is going to stress them at least a little.
 
Ya, Amprolium is what is in most medicated chick feed, and is the active ingredient in Corid (and a bunch of other brand names). It is just different concentrations, the concentration in medicated feed is really low since it is meant to help our chicks keep from having an outbreak of coccidia when exposed to it but still be able to build up their own immunity to it. Medicated feed is not meant to treat coccidia, you need Corid or something with a higher concentration for that. Amp is usually recommended to try first since it is easier on the chicks and has a higher safety margin than the sulfa drugs.

If you are actually going to have new (older) chicks in a brooder and not outside right away, I would do as Eggcessive suggested and go the lump of dirt route like you would your own baby chicks, same idea. Just keep an eye on them since even if they are healthy and happy, moving is going to stress them at least a little.
ya, chicken littles are now 5 weeks old and out in the "junior run" which is where they will be for several weeks. they love the outside and already are taking dirt baths. no more medicated feed now, multiflock crumble for the next 4 weeks(blue seal brand). im going back and forth trying to guess sex on the little buggers. we have one who is more aggressive than the others who has already been named Roo---my husbands favorite, rides around on his shoulder and chases after him. ahhhh, husbands.
 
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Here's Pollito! Almost 3 weeks old!
 

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