medicated feed

pheasantman

Chirping
5 Years
Dec 4, 2014
43
4
72
I have 20 bantam chicks arriving in a couple weeks. Should I feed the medicated chick starter and also give the medicated water, or just the medicated chick feed and plain water? Thanks!!
 
Medicated chick feed. They need it at the beginning. Plain water and change daily.
I switched mine to organic layer pellets at 16 weeks
Also scratch is not feed, it is a snack
 
We didn't use any medicated anything. Everyone has their reasons and does it differently. Research as best as you can and enjoy your birds.
 
Can I ask what you feed if it isn't medicated? I buy chick starter from the local feed store and it is medicated, they do t even have a different option
 
The medicated chick starter has amprolium, which is not an antibiotic, and helps the chicks develop resistance to coccidia gradually rather than becoming ill from that parasite. Flock Raiser is an unmedicated alternative, if you feel lucky about exposure to coccidia on your ground. I've fed both ways here, and have been lucky so far. That's not a recommendation, because trying to treat very sick dying chicks is not better. Mary
 
Coccidia is in all soils. So chicks will eventually be exposed to it. Amprolium blocks thiamine uptake, so the organism won't replicate. My preference is to start my chicks on un-medicated feed, and then give them some sod within the first 2 weeks of hatching so they can start developing resistance early. They also get fermented feed which is loaded with pro-biotics, to help them develop a good flora balance in their guts. I can't get un-medicated starter here from my favorite feed store. In fact, the employees will go so far as to tell me that I have to have the medicated feed, or all of my chicks will die. I've never had issues with coccidiosis in my chicks, never used medicated feed. They do well on multi-flock starter, which is higher protein anyways!
 

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