Feeding a hen and her chicks

[Justhatched]

What do you feed a hen and her chicks? Non medicated feed? Is medicated okay for the hen since she is not laying at the moment?

 

[centrarchid]

You feed chicks what they need to thrive, hen is secondary concern and more adaptable with respect to her needs. If brood is confined in small area where natural forage is very limited and adults are also confined nearby, then medicated feed is best unless you know your birds are resistant to local form of cocci. Feed enough so hen meets her needs as well. Stay away from scratches and whole grains for first month or so. Normally chicks eat almost exclusively insects we wee amounts of greens so your starter diets do best job of approximating natural foods.

 

[Justhatched]

They are confined in a brooder. No acess to the ground. If I gave them all medicated feed, would it harm the hen in anyway? This is my first time having a hen raise the chicks. I haven't decided when or if I will seperate her from the chicks. They are a month old. I have been feeding them unmedicated start and grow but never felt comfortable about that.

 

[centrarchid]

If they (chicks) have not been aversly affected by cocci, then I see no need for using medicated feed. If it is used, hen should handle it just fine by now since chicks exposed to mom's feces that should have developed resistance to cocci infection. They are also big enough to be easily weaned enabling hen to be housed and fed separately.

 

[janinepeters]

Justhatched, medicated feed will not hurt the hen. You are right - since she is not laying, you don't need to worry about the amprollium being transmitted to her eggs. Also, since she is not laying, you do not need to worry about calcium supplementation. It is fine to feed both mom and chx either medicated or unmedicated chick starter, as you choose.

 

[Justhatched]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I bought a small bag of medicated feed. I was really worried about not feeding it to the chicks.

 

[Chris09]

There is NO withdraw time for Amprolium, Corid, Amprovine, Amprol, Lasalocid,and Bovatec so even if she was laying eggs they would be safe to eat since the medication does not enter the egg or the meat of the fowl.

Chris

 

[triplepurpose]

I never feed medicated feed at all, so I've never encountered this dilemma. I've also never had chicks die from disease. Others will disagree, but I would not recommend giving medication for coccidiosis unless you have had bad problems with it in the past. Better to put the focus on providing healthy living conditions and a good diet, which will promote strong immune development rather than compromise it.