Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I emailed everyone on the directory and left a message on all of the FB groups. Out of them all, I had two responses, and next spring, I'll be able to have a young pullet sent to me via USPS ("depending on availability"), since the breeder is over eight hours away. I've seen a few people advertise bantam Ameraucana roosters here and there, but when contacted, no one wants to part with the hens, chicks, or pullets. I was hoping maybe there were more BA breeders, though, that simply weren't listed on the directories. It won't be too much longer, though, and spring will be here, I guess. *huge sigh* LOL

I agree with danz it would be a lot cheaper to get chicks shipped than get only one pullet shipped. It's so expensive to get bigger birds shipped. It's costing me $60 next week to have two young roosters shipped to me in addition to the cost of the birds. You could always re-home the roosters or just process them like danz said.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Where are you located Jane?And are you just after Bandams? As I am having 16 chicks normal sent to me from Meyers next week and I know in the spring I will be looking to rehome some hens which would be almost to egg laying. Depending on where your at and what you want I may be able to help?

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Question for the group what chicken food do you use here in KS? Meyer suggest Blue Seal which we don't get here and I would like to have some names as well as what the levels of the chick started fee should be and is medicaled feed label and is it just their normal feed with the meds added or do I need to buy a normal chick starter and a medicated one and offer one in the morning and one in the afternoon? Thank your

 

[chicken danz]

Question for the group what chicken food do you use here in KS? Meyer suggest Blue Seal which we don't get here and I would like to have some names as well as what the levels of the chick started fee should be and is medicaled feed label and is it just their normal feed with the meds added or do I need to buy a normal chick starter and a medicated one and offer one in the morning and one in the afternoon? Thank your

If you feed medicated feed you need to feed only medicated feed. Amprolium is added at a percentage necessary to help prevent coccidiosis. If you mix it with non medicated feed you loose the benefit. Lots of people prefer not to feed non-medicated but I always do. It's just not worth the risk to me to get cocci started in a brooder. Because it seems once it is there it is always there. I had one case of cocci which I suspect was tracked in by customers when I allowed them to go "choose" a chick. Bad decision on my part. I've had to fumigate and rest that entire brooder area . I plan to resurface it and treat it again before I ever allow chicks in there again.
I personally will only use either MFA feed (less expensive and very good if you can find it) or Purina. Here's some of the other things I have learned about other brands. Orcheln's doesn't get their crumbles completely dry and often a bag of feed from there will have developed mold...deadly to the chicks. Manna Pro chick starter has much larger chunks which is difficult for the youngest chicks to eat. Some other brands don't seem consistent in their make up. I think they depend too much on the local market for their mix which can vary in protein levels and consistency. Many Coops sell a local brand of feed. Be sure to check protein level and if it is high enough give it a try.
I feed as much as 20 50 lb bags of chick starter a month in hatching season so believe me I have formed opinions of different feeds. And also learned from customers feed back as well.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Danz thank you that is perfect I will look and see if I can get the MFA thanks again.

 

[Trish44]

It's a matter of opinion whether to feed medicated chick starter or not. In my opinion you're giving them a medication they don't need & you can treat the cocci if they get it, which usually is not as common as thought. I don't personally feed it because I have found that some breeds of chicks don't tolerate the amprolium in it & I was losing chicks just from the medication, which stopped when I quit feeding it. You have to do what you feel is best but in my situation I just do better without the medicated feed. I do give my chicks extra vitamins in the water to get them started well.

I got some of the winterizing done yesterday but have more to do today. I just need to get it done so I have one less thing to worry about. I may be having my total knee sooner than I had originally planned so I need to have things done before then.

 

[chicken danz]

I agree with what Trish says on the non-medicated feed if used for certain imported birds. I don't think they do as well on medicated feed as American bred birds. It seems to be the lighter weight, tighter feathered import breeds that don't do well with medication. I think their systems are still accustomed to foreign infections and not quite geared for U.S. germs and viruses. I had problems with cream legbars, Swedish flower hens, and Olandsk dwarfs getting along with medicated feed. I no longer raise any of those breeds however.
My Brahmas and Orpington imports they do wonderful on medicated.
As I said it's an individual thing. I don't give antibiotics normally unless it's absolutely necessary. I think we use too many as it is which causes resistance to them. However I would rather use preventative medication in chicks rather than weaken their systems with a full blown case of Cocci. It causes gut damage and can cause problems later on even if they survive making them more susceptible to other bacterial infections.
Amprolium given at a low dose such as in chick starter, actually allows the bird to acquire a low level of infection, which in turn allows them to build antibodies against Cocci; but not enough infection for the ocyst to mature and cause full blown infections in the flock. So using a medicated feed in essence works the same as giving them a vaccination against cocci.
Only certain types of disinfectants are effective against Coccidiosis and it can be a very difficult thing to get rid of if your coop is infected with the oocyst.

 

[Trish44]

Since I have had quite a few imported breeds of birds I have had to avoid the medicated chick starter. I agree with danz that they seem to be more fragile & not tolerate some things that the domestic birds can handle. There are some breeds of chicks that are just fragile to start out anyway & stressing them further with medication they aren't able to tolerate doesn't help them. I have found a vitamin mixture that I add to the water now for my chicks that seems to really give them a boost. Once they get to a certain age they seem to do fine, but sometimes getting them started is the trick.

 

[sharol]

I should know this, but....

If you start with medicated chick starter, how long do you give the medicated stuff? Do you use it with broody raised chicks or just incubator babies?

 

[chicken danz]

I feed medicated feed as long as I feed chick starter. In my case usually 6-8 weeks. Many of my broodie raised chicks don't get chick starter. Most of the broodie raised chicks and Moms free range and they get what the Mom's point them to. I have lost a few here and there but I never really know why. If I had them confined however they would be getting medicated feed. I have read to feed it for three weeks but according to studies the chicks vulnerability to Cocci is especially high for the the 6 weeks or so.
I have two hens with huge piles of eggs people helping me failed to gather. I am trying to decide if I want to confine these ladies to a separate area to finish brooding. If I can get DH to help me I still have some birds I need to move around this next week and want to move all the layers to the hen house. I normally wouldn't care about the broodies but I have someone wanting to buy these broody chicks so I guess in interest of making a few dollars I need to help them as I can. And I don't want other hens laying more eggs in with them. I could take the eggs and finish incubating them but that won't make these girls break their brood. Besides I really do want to shut down the incubators for just a little while.