cornish X chicks and medicated feed?

[blueskylen]

Hi,

i have one chick out of 50 that seems listless and is falling way behind the others in weight/size. i am not feeding medicated feed, but maybe I should be?? i did use the medicated starter on my eggers and red broilers this spring, but as these are supposed to be processed at 8 weeks or so, decided not to.

what do you think?

 

[pdpatch]

Well if the other are doing well, and just one chic is just one that is having trouble is not not be uncommon for a hybred chickens.

Add a genaric viteman and mineral supplement to there water would be more helpful.

 

[willheveland]

The little one could just be a runt.1 out of 50 is not bad,usually you'll get a handful of fall-be-hinders out of 50 birds.keep feeding it,he or she may surprize you.
I don't medicate my broilers either.Might be good for chickens you are keeping around like your layers,so I think you are doing everything right. Will

 

[dancingbear]

I wouldn't medicate 49 birds because one is puny. The vitamns sound like a good thing to do.

 

[blueskylen]

Thanks for the replys

i decided not to use the medicated feed, and all of the other chicks are still doing fine - outgrowing their fuzz and feather with lots of pink skin showing - ugly, but cute in their ugliness.

"Little Girl" is still hanging in there, but is now about 1/3 the size of the others - almost like they were at 1 week. i put her in a rabbit cage with the freebie chick that they sent, who is smaller than the others too. I am beginning to think the problem is that she has deformed feet and it is difficult for her to walk to the feeder and waterer. in this small cage, she can get there better without being trampled.
Just can't cull her, as her poo looks ok,not bloody and I don't think that she is really sick, just deformed.

 

[dancingbear]

It's possible she isn't a X chick, too. I got a couple of non-X chicks in my order last time I raised those. One was a pretty little white pullet with green legs, probably an EE. She got nabbed by a predator before she got big enough to lay eggs, so I never found out. I generally avoid raising white chickens, they just make too easy a target.

 

[quercus21]

Out of our first batch of 31 Cornish X Roosters for this year, 5 were runts. I lost 1 due to "the flip". I don't use medicated feed, or vitamins or have the birds vaccinated. Of the second batch this year, I lost one to trampling(?). The were a straight run batch. I think in the future I'll be getting just the Roosters. To me they seem to grow bigger faster then pullets.

 

[jaku]

I had the same thing with my last batch. Turned out, McMurray sent me one leghorn with my broilers. Ended up being a blessing- she's my most reliable layer now!