medicated feed question (bought a diff. kind)

[Silverose]

I have 12 chickens that are approx. 11 weeks old. they have been on purina mills start and grow the entire time (medicated w/ amprolium, 18% protien) I was getting low on feed, and wasn't going to the town where it is sold, so I went to the local co-op and got some starter/grower. it has the amprolium and 16% protein, but it also has bacitracin methylene disalicylate in it. should I give this to my chickens or just take it back and make a special trip into the other town to get the other? it says start at hatching and continue until laying age, would it hurt to start it now?

 

[Erica]

I don't imagine there will be much problem changing medications. As far as I know all coccidiostats work by limiting the ability if cocci to fix and/or multiply in the digestive tract. There shouldn't be much different in the result.

However 11 weeks is getting toward the age when they should be starting to develop immunity. Starter feeds usually have higher amounts of medications in them because the chicks have little or no immunity. Grower feeds usually have less medication. If you feed 11 week olds a starter ration they may be slower to develop their own immunity to cocci.

What I'd do is dilute the feed slightly with unmedicated feed. About half and half would probably be fine, or if you're worried, start at 80/20 and slowly reduce the medicated feed week by week. By 16 weeks they'd be medication free and ready to lay.

As for what to dilute the medicated feed with, you probably shouldn't use layer feed (the calcium level would still be too high even if it's only at 50%), but you could probably find an unmedicated grower feed.

Erica

 

[Silverose]

I wanted to get an un-medicated feed, but was told that was all they carried, up until the layer formula (in a very "there, there little lady don't worry your pretty little head" sort of way) my main concern is not the coccidiostat, which is the same in both feeds (and I would be doing without that, given the option) but more so the bacitracin methylene disalicylate, or BMD as I have found it, from my understanding of looking it up, it is an antibiotic, which I see absolutely no need for. I've had no problems with chicken health so far, they have been free-ranging during the day for around a month or so, and haven't had any die off.

I'm considering just mixing it with what I have left to get rid of it, (it's only a 25lb at least) then never buying feed there again. I perfer to read the tags myself, which I can do at TSC the co-op keeps everything in back.

 

[Silverose]

I did find this on another board:

Bacitracin - Bacitracin can also go by the names Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate and BMD. Bacitracin in Broiler And Replacement Chickens is an aid in prevention and control of necrotic enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens susceptible to bacitracin methylene disalicylate.

but I have no idea what that means, it might as well be in greek.​

 

[speckledhen]

It's a tiny dose of bacitracin, quite common as a boost to the main coccidiostat, as I understand it.