Feeding medicated vs. non medicated chick feed?

[Justhatched]

I've have many chicks before and have always raised them myself in a brooder with heat. I have a broody hen that hatched eggs two days ago and now I don't know what to do?

Do I keep them together (hen with chicks)? What food should I feed them if I do that? Right now I have them on non-medicated chick feed n' grow.

or

Should I seperate the chicks and hen and give the chicks medicated feed and do it the way i've always done?

I worry about the chicks getting sick without the medicated feed. Is there any benefits to leaving the chicks with the hen?

 

[akovia]

The benefits of letting Momma hen raise her chicks are many, especially if they have access to dirt. "Mother knows best"!

 

[Judy]

I agree. One of them is that the chicks get some protection from cocci from the mama, so medicated feed should not be necessary, although it also shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[Judy]

That feed will be fine for mama and chicks. Just don't let the chicks have layer feed as the extra calcium can harm their kidneys, even be lethal when they are very young. The mama doesn't need layer while she's raising chicks, anyway, as she won't lay. If there are laying hens in the same flock, just put out oyster shell separately; the chicks won't bother it, at least in my experience.