Is Medicated Chick Feed Alright??

[happyhens1972]

This site is non judgmental and at least I understood you were asking a question instead of making a point. A lot of things we decide for our flock is a personal choice and we all have different reasons. Learning other people's reasons can help when you give advise to other people. For instance: I said mosquitoes and fowl pox are big concerns for my area (deep south) so many of us use sand as bedding in our coop and fans to combat this problem. I would never advise to use sand in the north in winter because so many people have a problem with it freezing and not being able to properly clean their coop. Freezing is never a concern for me but because I know what other areas have problems with I can properly advise them when they are looking into bedding options. Wait until you find the natural vs not treatments! That is where most of the hot discussions come into play and knowing both sides will help you give options to others when helping them.

I agree on every count. I live in the UK and things are often very different here. Firstly, the availability of animal medications and supplements is very poor indeed so we have far fewer options to begin with. I have recently had health issues with my goats and belong to a fantastic forum that could not have been more helpful BUT it is an American forum and even the most basic of vitamin and mineral supplements are just not available here so advise was given but could not be followed.

Secondly, our weather here, which is eternally wet, allows for beautiful lush greeness but can also be a real bugger for encouraging bacteria and parasites so I tend to also err on the side of caution there too....smothering my coops in DE every week, treating the girls for worms and lice monthly and.....using medicated feed for the chicks.

I guess I tend to act on the side of caution first as I am so hyper aware how difficult it can be to get the medications required to help put things right after the fact.

 

[JSossong]

Please do not think I was in any way saying my decision is right and that of others is wrong, it was a genuine enquiry.

I see the point, I guess, in the fact that it may seem unnecessary. I have a relatively small flock of 15 adult birds who have been on the same piece of land of about one fifth of an acre for the whole of their lives. When flock members pass away, I usually buy in POL birds from various sources, non of them vaccinated, just from backyard breeders.

I have, however, raised a couple of batches of chicks on the same ground for the purpose of stock replenishment and to sell on to help pay for feed. This has also been small-scale....only a dozen each time....but I have fed medicated feed on the 'just in case' basis.

I currently have four 3 week old chicks, 15 eggs in the incy due next week and 6 more on order for hatch next month. With three batches of chicks at various ages who will be gradually integrated with each other and then the main flock, I just feel I'm playing safe....but I can equally understand the points made above and definitely see it as a matter of choice.

Of course! I really appreciate you answering my post! I'm a first timer so advice from anyone is very much appreciated! I've been gathering information from so many people and everyone tells me something different and does different things with their flock. I take everyones advice into consideration. It's nice to know reasoning behind every decision as well.

Thanks again everyone for your input!

 

[ChaoSS]

I have always used medicated feed on the basis of it preventing any problems with the chicks at a young and vulnerable age and giving them that protection when they go in with the older chickens in case there is cocci in the pen and the older ones have built up natural immunity.

Can I ask why people WOULDN'T give medicated feed?

I sort of worked on idea that we vaccinate our children, dogs, cats etc against diseases they don't yet have and may never get on a 'just in case' basis, why not chickens?

Some of us prefer not to use any medication if not necessary for a few reasons.

First, I don't know enough about the given medication to know if this is an issue, but I hate how commercial animal farming has created such a problem with bacteria and drug resistance by mass medications. Maybe this isn't an issue with medicated feed, but I don't know. I don't know if anyone knows if this will become a problem in the future.


Second, I don't like medicating my food. Maybe it will be gone, but I tend to have little faith in anyone who says that things like that are completely safe.


Third, many people prefer to let nature take it's course, and eliminate weaker animals, to have a stronger flock.



For what it's worth, many of us do not vaccinate our children, dogs, or cats, and do not use antibiotics for our children "just in case" when they get sick, as so many people like to do as a preventative measure. Some of us prefer to use drugs only as needed.

 

[happyhens1972]

Oh, I might add too that I do not eat my chickens and obviously by the time they are laying eggs (which I incidentally do not eat either but I do sell) they are off the medicated feed so I don't have to worry about food contamination by the medication.

 

[ChaoSS]

BTW, they say that you should not do both vaccines and medicated feed. So if you get the vaccinations from a hatchery when you buy chicks, you should not do the medicated feed. It hampers the development of the chicks own immune system. So there is another reason not to do medicated feed.

 

[foreverlearning]

Oh, I might add too that I do not eat my chickens and obviously by the time they are laying eggs (which I incidentally do not eat either but I do sell) they are off the medicated feed so I don't have to worry about food contamination by the medication.

I do eat both eggs and meat of mine however I have a group in my main flock that are pets and will never be eaten because they have good traits (ie: great rooster, head hen that keeps a calm flock, great broody, personally comb or color I want passed on and so forth). How did you get into chickens not eating either meat or eggs? I never thought about getting chickens until my kid picked them out at the store. It was either chicks or a snake and I wasn't going for a snake.

 

[happyhens1972]

I do eat both eggs and meat of mine however I have a group in my main flock that are pets and will never be eaten because they have good traits (ie: great rooster, head hen that keeps a calm flock, great broody, personally comb or color I want passed on and so forth). How did you get into chickens not eating either meat or eggs? I never thought about getting chickens until my kid picked them out at the store. It was either chicks or a snake and I wasn't going for a snake.

Don't get me wrong, I DO eat meat, just not my chickens, they are my pets and sadly I have some sort of egg intollerance that makes me sick if I eat eggs. I can eat them in cakes and the like but not just as egg.

I got into chickens because the head mistress of the school where I work decided we needed some chickens as an enrichment and learning venture but then took no interest in them at all and nor did any other adult in the school. This meant I ended up as sole keeper of the flock and eventually, over the last six years, as hens have passed away, I have replaced them with breeds and colours that I am interested in. The chickens now all belong to me, except one remaining ex battery girl from the original flock and bless her heart, I don't think she is much longer for this world.

I have my house up for sale with the intention of moving on to a property with land and when I go, all my girls will come with me. There is no point leaving any at the school as there are no adults willing to get involved. It's such a shame cos the kids absolutely love them!

I have discussed the idea of raising a different pen of chickens for meat after I move but am not sure if I can do it. In principal, I love the idea of knowing they have had a good life, a good death and have been truly free range...really 'ethical' meat....but I find it very hard to not get attached and once attached, I'm not eating anything! My sister is hoping to keep chickens too, also when she moves to a bigger place, so we have also considered raising chooks for each other's table, hopefully overcoming the attachment issue.....but we will see!

In the mean time, I see it as no different to any other pet....I have rabbits, goats, hedgehogs and cats too and I wouldn't put those on my table so why the chickens?

 

[foreverlearning]

What a story, I love it! Meat chickens are a little easier to raise for culling but many people do have a problem with the culling itself. The meat breeds such as cornishx are food aggressive and think your toes are worms. They trip you, peck your toes, poop a lot more then normal, flock you when you have feed, and break into feed containers. Raising them is not for everyone but they do taste really good. You also only need to keep them for 6-10 weeks depending on free ranging. If they free range it will be towards the end of that time frame before they are ready. The short time frame is the only way I can handle raising them. I hope you are able to get some land soon so you can enjoy them even more!

 

[happyhens1972]

I have culled a number of my girls when they have had health problems that have not been fixable....I use the broomstick method.....I find it very upsetting of course but I don't balk at it if the job needs doing so it's not so much the actual culling, just the idea of eating something I have loved and cared for. Maybe if meat birds are so ornery to keep, I'll have less trouble. I'm sure it must get easier over time.

I've never heard of Cornish x....I'm not sure if you can get them in the UK? I have just read a couple of threads on here about them and they sound fun to me....real feisty buggers! But I have never seen them advertised over here.

 

[foreverlearning]

Cornishx is a cross between cornish chickens and barred rock chickens. I do not know what you have available for you over there but a "white meat bird" or "white broiler" should be simular. I don't know what one would be the hen or roo to breed them myself but over here the hatcheries carefully select the bloodlines to cross breed to get what we call a cornish cross or cornishx. The traits they look for in breeding stock is feed conversion, feathering, and size. They are full weight between 5-8 pounds at 6-10 weeks. I believe they are ornery because they grow so fast and the higher protein feed required to keep their weight makes it go in one end and quickly come out the other. The black and the red broilers I know over there are a little slower to get to weight but still get there all the same. We call those freedom rangers over here if you want to look up those threads. I can't do the slower growers because I would get too attached.