Culling on chick starter feed???

[mixitup]

Just a question, but I've always been told, by the farm supply house and the hatchery people, that the birds have to be off chick starter and medicated feed for a bit before culling. Since I'd like some cornish hens when I do get some meat birds, I want to know how to get around this. Any ideas??

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You can get unmedicated starter or just use gamebird feed crumbles (high protein and is not medicated) right from the get go with your meat birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure what you mean by "culling". Culling means to select. It does not mean to kill. Some people cull by giving chickens away or selling them, separating them into breeding and laying flocks, or sometimes by killing unwanted chickens. Sometimes culled chickens that are killed are eaten. I'm going to guess you mean that you plan to eat the chickens you cull.

Depending on the medicine in the medicated feed, there can be a withdrawal period from when you stop feeding the medicated feed to when you should process the bird. You need to know what the medicine is in the medicated feed so you can determine what, if any, that withdrawal period should be. You can e-mail or otherwise contact the feed manufacturer to ask them. They shoulkd know exactly what they are putting into their feed.

The way I get around it is to not feed medicated Starter at all. I don't know why you are feeding medicated feed? Are you treating or just preventing? Do you have a history of some disease you are medicating against?

I keep my brooder pretty dry and feed them dirt from the run at a very early age to introduce anything that the adult chickens might have so they can build up immunities. I have not had problems with coccidiosis or anything else. We are all different. Some people have a history that says they need to feed medicated feed, but I don't. So I don't feed medicated feed at all.

 

[mixitup]

Thanks for the info. No diseases at all. But I also haven't had chickens for about a year and a half. I'm in withdrawal! LOL

The medicated is what they seem to sell around here. I have asked about something else and the farm supply place doesn't really advocate non medicated starter. I've posted another thread asking about feed. I mean to have them in a chicken tractor most of the summer, or in an outdoor pen during the day and in a coop at night. So most of the problem is actually getting nonmedicated feed. I have links to some great threads about feed though.

The only thing I really might want to give them are the vitamins for a week or so.

 

[DrJerryrigger]

I'm not an expert at all, but at 4 weeks I think it's fine to transition them over to a developer or grower/finisher feed. Most of those are not medicated. At what age do you plan to cull the flock?