Diet for bebes

[Somshine]

Okay so I've always, since about 2 years in done medicated chick food. But I'm doing some reading on here and I'm understanding how useless that is before they are exposed to the environment it helps with. And it makes sense considering what I already know. So now I'm trying this. I'm starting off with this food which of course I keep their feeder full of, and then a nice big midday meal that they will finish entirely so it doesn't leave germs and contaminants around their brooder. I'm fermenting some chick food (with a splash of cultured apple cider vinegar, to start, for culture), then I scramble an egg, (it's 1/3 a day, soon to become a half), matched with baby spring mix and a dash of antioxidant enzymes. They absolutely love it and I feel like it will do more good than the medicated food now that I'm better educated would love to hear some suggestions and additions!

 

[Somshine]

My 18 children

 

[nuthatched]

Fresh Plain water. Chick feed. No treats.
Don't worry about germs in the feed.

 

[Somshine]

Fresh Plain water. Chick feed. No treats.
Don't worry about germs in the feed.

Well I meant germs by like putting chopped up scrambled eggs and stuff like that that sit there all day and don't get eaten. I try to keep my little power meals small enough they devour it and don't spread it all over the brooder so it turns to a D-rated kitchen

 

[Somshine]

Fresh Plain water. Chick feed. No treats.
Don't worry about germs in the feed.

I basically just keep food and water out all day. But I like to make them a little power snack in the middle of the day that they'll easily wipe out and no more than 10 minutes just for the nutrition.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm a little foggy if you're actively wanting to do early exposure, or if the plan is to not do early exposure and then put them on medicated feed when they go out. If the plan is early exposure, then more exposure is what you want - so a clump of unfertilized/untreated weeds or grass with soil and roots will do a lot more on that front than packaged salad mix.

I'm very straight forward, my chicks get plain water once they've been here a few days (I do add Poultry Nutri-Drench the first few days to help with stress) and unmedicated chick starter + all flock + a pinch of grit maybe once a week. They're brooded in the run so exposure to all the germs, microbes and bacteria right from the get go. As soon as they have full run access they're free to help themselves to fermented feed from the adults' food bowls.

 

[K0k0shka]

I don't understand if that concoction is meant to replace medicated feed and replicate its function in preventing coccidiosis... because if so, I don't see how it will accomplish that at all. It will do nothing to specifically build immunity against cocci. There's nothing wrong with feeding medicated feed from the start, even before the chicks go outside - people do that because they don't want to waste the feed, to buy a whole bag for just the two weeks after chicks first go outside, and then throw it out. It won't hurt them to eat it longer than those two weeks. If you don't want to feed medicated feed at all, but want the chicks to develop immunity regardless, then gradually exposing them to the dirt where the bacteria lives will help train their immune systems. Vinegar and salad won't.