Feeding Broiler Grower to chicks?

[Blue Hill Farm]

My SIL was in the city yesterday so I had her pick up some chick starter as my supply is running low and our local feed store here can't tell medicated from unmedicated. Ahem.

Turns out the city one was all out of chick starter, so she brought me back a 50 pound bag of Silver Broiler Grower medicated crumbles.....

It states it is for the prevention of necrotic enteritis and coccidiosis and contains 55mg of bacitracin methylene disalicylate, 60mg of salinomycin sodium, as well as added vitamins and selenium.

Is this safe to give to 4 week old chicks? Can I mix with my regular medicated chick starter? I don't want this huge honking bag to be a complete waste.

 

[elmo]

Couple of things: check to to see if the crumble is small enough for your chicks to eat. If not, you could always crush or pulverize it into finer bits for them.

I can't really address the question of the medication since I don't use medicated feed.

The label on the bag ought to tell you the protein content. If it's less than 19 or 20 percent protein, you'll probably want to offer supplemental protein.

I think "broiler" feed is typically just a higher protein food without calcium supplementation, meant to be fed to young birds before they become old enough to lay eggs. In other words, layer feed will be lower in protein but have added calcium.

My chicks (3 weeks to 5 weeks) are on Countryside Naturals organic chick starter which is just their broiler feed ground fine for little beaks.

 

[Judy]

I wouldn't. You would be giving two antibiotics. You want feed that is medicated with amprolium only, as it is not an antibiotic, but does help the chick build a natural immunity to cocci by controlling the growth of the cocci.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Hi Flicker Chick:

How many chicks do you have (i.e. how many weeks or months would you be giving the feed?)?

Were you looking for non-medicated feed (were your chicks vaccinated for Cocci?). If they were not vaccinated for Cocci I would say go ahead and mix the feed with your regular chick starter. The only real 'problem' is that it likely is higher in protein than they need (broilers need more protein to sustain their quick growth).

Both the bacitracin methylene disalicylate, and salinomycin sodium are medications for Coccidiosis or its affects. Coccidiosis is a protozoan that lives in the chickens intestines. If the concentration of Cocci in the intestines becomes greater than the chickens resistance to the cocci, the chickens will develop lesions and sores on the intestine walls. The bacitracin helps to kill the bacteria (Clostridium) that infect these lesions and the resulting Necrotic Enteritis.

On a side note, if your regular chick starter already has medication in it, I'm not sure how well the meds would mix (depends on what is in the reg. chick starter). Personally if it were me, I would buy some non-medicated chick starter (like from Tractor Supply) to mix with the medicated broiler feed. Everything should be fine then.

After you finish the bag though, I would recommend what ddawn said... switch to a starter feed that has only amprolium in it. The aprolium will stunt the growth of the Cocci enough to allow the chicks to develop a natural resistance to the Cocci. (as opposed to bacitracin/salinomycin that are supposed to kill the Cocci but as a result don't allow the chickens to develop resistance).

 

[Blue Hill Farm]

I have 10 chicks, almost 1 month old. This is my second bag of feed, so I'm not sure how long it will last...? Way too long by the sounds of it.

The first bag was only 10 pound and shared with my SIL (who also has 10 chicks.) And no, mine were not vaccinated. I got the original feed along with them, which was the medicated crumbles with amprolium.

I'm going to take your suggestion and find some non-medicated starter to mix with until it's all used up. Then back to the amprol starter.


And the crumbles are the same size as the regular feed, so no problem there. Protein is 19.5%

Thanks much!