Flockraiser for chicks? Please help!

[BeccaOH]

Quote:
I didn't see any on the ingredients list.

 

[Hen_House_Rocks!]

Okay, I just checked and there is no medication in the flockraiser. The protein level is 20% The bag says for broiler chickens, ducks and geese from hatch to market weight. My chicks are being raised for egg-laying. Any thoughts?

 

[BeccaOH]

That is what the majority of mine are being raised for. It should be fine.

 

[Hen_House_Rocks!]

Thanks!

 

[Tailfeathers]

Hinkjc asked what the chicks were vaccinated for and that's a good question that hasn't been answered yet. In fact, it's a key question. I'm guessing they came from a hatchery or feedstore which vaccinated them for Mareks. That being the case, the vaccination is irrelevant as medicated chick starter contains Amprolium which is a coccidiostat and is used only to keep the cocci already present in the chicks guts from multiplying to a level that is above their natural resistance.

Purina makes both a medicated chick starter and a non-medicated chick starter. I would suggest spending a little time on their website and reading as much as you can about their various products. I'm guessing "br" stands for Barred Rocks. So my suggestion would be to feed them either the medicated (providing they haven't been vaccinated for coccidiosis already) or not non-medicated chick starter. Purina's Chick Starter is specially formulated to not only have the right amounts of protein, crude fats, fiber, etc. but also certain amino acids and such for the age of the chicken.

That's not to say that you can't use Flock Raiser but I think you would see better results with the Chick Starter. Also, even though your chicks are only 7 days old, since you are letting them out to free-range during the day, they most likely aren't picking up a lot of cocci in their food or litter in the brooder. So non-medicated chick starter would probably be fine although the medicated chick starter was actually a buck cheaper than the non-medicated the last time I bought it.

Hope that helps.

God Bless,

 

[goldenluver]

I used flock raiser for two reasons.

1) I did not want to medicate my birds the whole point of raising my own birds)
2) I was raising turkey poults with the chicks (turkeys and other birds can be over medicated and die from medicated chick starter)

my birds are now almost six months old and doing fine.

 

[hinkjc]

(turkeys and other birds can be over medicated and die from medicated chick starter)

This is a myth. If they die from med chick starter, it is due to improper nutrition for gamebird needs. Gamebirds actually do better on medicated feeds. Gamebird starter only comes in medicated (for cocci) and is the preferred feed for starting gamebirds. You can not over medicate if you are feeding them solely the feed required. Adding additional meds to water is what causes overmedication. Feed is formulated so not to overmedicate.

I completely understand the personal choice to not provide medicated feeds. If it works well in certain situations, I wouldn't change it either. But that is not to say it will work in all situations.

I do think if the OP wants to start them on med feed, then the vaccination question needs to be answered to ensure they are getting the right info from their feed store. So often feed stores are just uneducated on what is what.​

 

[Hen_House_Rocks!]

They were vaccinated for mareks and cocci. Unfortunately I don't have much choice on feed. We live in a very rural area and the only farm supply store we have is a big box store and will not special order anything. (I've checked.) I could order feed online if I must.