This link may help you decide on whether or not to vaccinate against Marek's. After talking to my county extension agent and learning there had been one reported case of Marek's in this county in three years, I decided to not vaccinate. I realize that was reported cases and most are not reported, but it convinced me. It is a personal decision. You might check to see what the charge to vaccinate 6 chicks is. When I got mine from Cackle, the minimum charge was $10 to vaccinate any. The individual cost to vaccinate did not kick in until you met the $10 minimum.
Small Flock Vaccination
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/377/small-flock-vaccination
You have to read the write-up on the feed bag to determine exactly what the "medicated" feed contains and what it is supposed to do. Do not completely trust the people at the feed store but read it yourself. Some of them are real good and knowledgable but some are not.
Chickenmaven is correct in that it is almost universally something to help prevent coccidiosis, often called cocci on this forum. The normal active ingredient is Amprolium, which is not an antibiotic. Cocci is caused by a protazoa that lives and reproduces in the chicken's intestines. As long as the number of these protazoa don't get too high, it is no big deal. If the numbers get high, it can make your chicken ill or even kill it. It goes through a life cycle where it lives in the chickens intestines, is expelled in the poop, develops for a day or two in the moist poop, then is reingested by the chickens. If it goes through this cycle for a few weeks and the numbers are kept low, the chicken develops an immunity to this protazoa. Amprolium reduces the reproduction in the chickens intestines but does not completely eliminate it so the chicken can develop the immunity to that specific strain of protazoa. There are several different strains of the protazoa and an immunity to one strain does not give you immunity to all strains. Another thing to remember is that the protazoa really multiply in wet poop. It is important to keep the brooder pretty dry to keep these numbers down. They can get sick with cocci even if they are on Amproliumif the brooder is wet. I believe there is one rare but pretty nasty strain that can kill chicks even if the brooder is kept pretty dry.
Not everyone uses medicated feed. I did not since my local
Tractor Supply does not carry it and my chicks did fine. Whether you use medicated feed or not, it is important that you keep the brooder dry and the chicks have access to eat some of their day or two old poop.
Some hatcheries now offer a vaccination against some strains of cocci. It does not necessarily protect against all strains. You'll need to contact the hatchery to find out exactly which are covered and the precautions to take to maintain the immunity from the vaccine. For one specific hatchery I've contacted, you need to not feed medicated feed, Amprolium, or antibiotics for a coupleof weeks and the chicks need access to their slightly damp droppings for a couple of weeks or you neutralize their vaccination. I don't know that all hatcheries that offer the vaccination use the same product or method, so I can't say this applies to all hatcheries that offer the vaccine.
