Hi I was wondering if yall select the option to get the baby chicks vaccianted before the hatchery ships them to you i am looking to order a few from mypetchicken in the next day and would like advice on if i should or not i feed my chickens medicated feed any advice would be great
According to the McMurray Catalog if you have your birds vaccinated you should not feed medicated feed, and best results with vaccination is 1 to 3 days. I believe it is 15 cents a bird.
Quote:This only pertains to the coccidiosis vaccine. If you chose to get the cocci vaccine, then you should not feed medicated but only because feeding it would null and void the vaccine, i.e., be a waste of money. Nothing bad is going to happen to your chicks if you vaccinate for cocci and then still feed the medicated chick starter. Feeding medicated chick starter to chicks vaccinated for Marek's has no bearing on the vaccine at all. Two different things. I choose not to vaccinate. My chicks are fed the medicated starter as an insurance (but not a guarantee!) against coccidiosis. Other than that, I prefer that they gain immunity against disease the natural way, by being exposed in their enviroment. For what it's worth - the medication in medicated chick starter is not an antibiotic. It's a coccidiostat. It is a medication that serves to retard the life cycle or reduce the population of pathogenic coccidia to the point that disease is minimized and the host develops immunity. Feeding medicated starter has no bearing on any other disease or infestation other than coccidiosis.
Ideal recommended I not get my chicks vaccinated since I only plan on having a small backyard flock, and haven't had chickens in the yard or in the coop we're building for them. I hope I won't regret that choice!
the only thing MPC vaccinates for is the merks i think i spelled that right because they state that if they vaccinated for the coccidiosis that it will add more stress to the chicks and with that added stress plus the stress from the shipping that it can cause the chicks to arrive sick. so if i have them vaccinated for just the merks i can still feed them the medicated food.
I always get my chicks vaccinated at McMurray's for both coccidiosis and Marerk's. In the small numbers I buy, < 30, it is cheaper and I know the birds are protected. It means they don't have to be fed medicated feed either which is a bonus. Never had a loss either.
