Is medicated feed really needed?

[halo]

Its much easier preventing coccidiosis than curing it. The medicated feed will do that for you.

 

[lalaland]

10 years raising chicks, never used medicated, although I do get mareks vacine, never had a problem.

imho, don't use it. you might need it if you have hundreds and hundreds of chicks in a poultry shed and can't keep things clean and cage your chicks. in a backyard flock? no.

same thing with antibacterial soap - hey, soap and water works great, and no reason to build up resistance to antibiotics in you or your chicks!

 

[jjdward]

I got 50 chicks from Ideal in December and the first 50#bag I got was medicated. It lasted about 10 days. After that, I asked the lady at my feed store and she said that if I wasn't having any problems, that non medicated would be fine. So I only used one bag and since then, no more.

 

[briznian]

When the label says medicated they are using amprolium which is a thiamine inhibitor. Coccidia are 50 times more sensitive to this compound than other host animals are. Coccidia need thiamine to replicate in the gut of the chicken and when the chicks are younger this can quickly overrun the immune response of the chicks. By inhibiting the growth of the Coccidia this allows for the chicken to gain immunity over time.

This is not the same as using antibiotics that you normally associate with the term 'medicated' in the feed -- not like using penicillin or other drug that can cause resistance.

If given in high amounts this can cause a deficiency in thiamine in the chicks but they would have to eat a truckload of feed at the given amount in the pre-medicated feed.

After the starter feed is finished (the label will state how long to give) you don't have to continue to give medicated feed so using it won't bind you long term to it. Also, Coccidia are more prevalent in areas that have previously housed poultry.

 

[Chris09]

I use the Medicated feed on all chicks that are hatched here and I have shipped in. All new birds (Laying age) will get treated with Sulfamethazine Sodium 12.5% (Sulmet).. I also treat all birds that come back from shows. I lost 150 chicks at $3.00 a chick one year do to Coccidiosis and that wont happen again.

Chris