So, say you have 2 week olds (hatched) and day olds (bought) sharing a brooder. What do you do? By hen soil, do you mean the soil the hens are in the most, that has guaranteed cocci in it, or hen poo? Should I wait until the day olds are a little older and have gotten kefir into their system (I do feed mine kefir) before I introduce them to cocci? Would you move them to the tractor at the same time, or the oldest first, then the little ones when they are 3 weeks? I have a ton more questions... Do you mind helping me?
So sorry I missed this, and other questions! Apologies for that, and thanks to others for raising the thread again. Thanks so much for kind comments LaynaDon95 (and a few others).
To clarify (sorry it's so late!), by 'soil' I meant just a handful of the dirt out of the hens' pen. You could also do it with fresh healthy hen droppings. I do this right away, day one, so they've had exposure as early as possible, but not a huge amount so they're not overwhelmed.
Tractoring is great, but can be tricky if chicks are still on heat (I wean mine to a purpose-built 'cold brooder' by 7-14 days of age). If you can't use a tractor, I'd recommend starting chicks in a small brooder, then moving to a bigger brooder outdoors (e.g. in a shed or aviary, or tractor) no older than 3 weeks. This is because if you leave them in the baby brooder too long, they start to really shed high numbers of cocci oocysts, and that compromises the next hatch who are put in the same tub. Changing brooders at 3 weeks really helps keep up the graduated exposure.
The trouble those of you brooding in a bathroom or house will have is the sudden shock going from ultra-clean to cocci-laden soil outdoors. I think you're right, those of you who make the switch using medicated starter just in case. However if you've added a small amount of hen pen soil from day one you should find it easier to make the graduation.
The way I came to being fully med-free after years of using medicated starter was by first of all weaning chicks off the medication at younger and younger age. It took a fair bit of trial and error to learn that I had to be on top of quite a few variables (such as chick numbers, weather, soil dampness) as well as what I was feeding. And I also learned that the more kefir the better; if I skimp on it, and a few other things coincide (like it rains in the pen, or I've just changed them from the tractor to the bottom pen where there's more damp, or I'm too busy to move the tractor for over a week) I start seeing signs.
If anyone's interested, my blog has quite a lot of info packaged under 'raising chicks without medication' and also under 'soured milk diets'. Sorry but you have to scroll right to the bottom where the list reads 'posts by subject'. However my blog is kind of farm-based, so anyone who doesn't want to see how to dispatch a chicken for food should perhaps do a search rather than scrolling.
I'm kicking myself for not answering the terrific questions people have raised here... Hopefully I've given some help.
I know it's good against lice and other pests. I give mine yogurt or kefir (depending on what I have) which is good for their intestines. I also give mine a natural wormer in their water.
