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Debbie292d said:
I had been using Kalmbach's starter, but just today switched them over the Kalmbach's Flock Maker. That's 20% protein and is for chicks all the way up to 8 months or so, whenever they start laying eggs.

I use medicated for two weeks if I ever buy chicks from somewhere else, but try to get them outside asap which helps give them immunities too.
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I have read in several places where medicated feed is a big No-No for Silkie chicks. Have you ever had issues with it?
 
Grizzlegear said:
I have read in several places where medicated feed is a big No-No for Silkie chicks. Have you ever had issues with it?
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Silkies are prone to vitamin deficiencies, wry neck, and certain diseases like Marek's disease.

Amprolium that's in medicated feed is very low level and provides a certain amount of protection from getting most strains of coccidiosis. Amprolium blocks Thiamine (Vit B) which is one thing we give chickens who have wry neck, physical injuries, etc. So, it makes sense to avoid it if it could tend to lend to our silkies getting wry neck or some other physical ailment. However, if they were to get coccidiosis, Corid has 10X the amount of amprolium in it, and it's advised to give that to them for 5-7 days, then repeat in a week.

I just had coccidiosis with two 6-week-old chicks out of 14 because they had been kept apart for two weeks in the house brooder. They were being sold, and I was holding them for the buyer. After two weeks of them being in the house, I got an idea to band them and let them go outside too. It rained that night and their pen got muddy, poopy, etc. They were in that in the morning until we let them out to free range and then moved their pen/hutch to a grassy area. About a week or so later, those two were sick, but not the others. My hubby drove to THC to buy Corid liquid, which was given to them all. Today is their first day off of it.

I had a small bag of unopened medicated feed I'd bought on sale months ago, just in case. Oh, how I wish I'd had thought of that and could have put them on that right away. Now one of the two is limping, and I can't find anything wrong, so their water just got switched from Corid to Poultry Cell, which I would do anyway to replenish the lost vitamins for all of them. I'll do that for two weeks and give them Hydro-Hen probiotic water about every third day.

It's just that if you're where coccidiosis is more prevalent, or like me worried about purchased chicks, it's way less amprolium then not giving them medicated and then having to give them Corid. When I bought chicks, I gave them medicated for two weeks was all. That's what many do, or they'll switch when the bag is gone.

This was my first bout of coccidiosis, and I learned a lesson.
 

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