Medicated or Unmedicated Chick Feed?

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
The flu is viral and is not treated with medications. The complications that may arise due to the flu may be treated with medications but not the flu itself.

I wish you all the best with your chickens.

 

[ella]

Some points to look at is that Cocci is a protazoa, not a virus or bacteria. The common medication in Medicated chick feed is Amprolium, which is NOT an antibiotic. The cocci parasite feeds on thiamine, amprolium is similar to thiamine (vitamin B1) in structure but can't be used by the parasite to reproduce. So it allows natural immunity to be built.

It doesn't stay in their system and won't be in the meat, so no worries there.

So all the ideas that your chicks won't develop a strong natural immune system or that you will breed super bugs are not relevant when it comes to using amprolium medicated feeds.

Check your bag to see what it's medicated with, it makes a difference.

 

[honeydoll]

I didn't know that. Thanks so much for the info, Ella.

 

[Akane]

Swine flu is thought to be a strain of flu passed from humans to pigs and then back to humans many years later. We didn't really do anything to mutate it and the fact we don't have medications to treat it is not what is causing the problems. The problem is it's different enough from common strains of flu (I'm guessing because it's been circulating through pigs and not people all this time) that people don't have a natural immunity to it. We don't treat the flu directly with medication anyway. There are antivirals but they don't do much when compared to antibiotics for bacteria, are expensive, and therefore aren't commonly used so nothing should be building a resistence to them. I would think they'd have as much impact on swine flu strain as they do on every other strain of flu. Again the problem is a lack of immunity in the population which is causing deaths from the flu itself. Most flu related deaths are caused by complications resulting from the flu such as secondary bacterial infections taking advantage of the damage done by the flu virus. This is what is treated when someone goes in with very bad symptoms from the flu. They are actually treating a bacteria that's moving in while or right after the body fights off the flu virus. In this case the virus itself is causing the harm because the body can't fight it and we can't kill virus anywhere near as well as bacteria. There are not more deaths from swine flu than other flu strains there are only more deaths from the virus itself instead of from the secondary complications. Really a bad example when you are trying to argue against medication use because it has little to do with it and virus can't be compared the same as bacteria since like I said antivirals aren't commonly used.

However I do agree with using the least medication possible. Just because we don't think it can cause a resistent strain and leaves the body quickly doesn't mean it can't cause any problems or that our constant use of it isn't going to leave a mark eventually. If I can raise something without medication or additives I would rather do that irregardless of whether it has been proven to cause a problem or not.

 

[bibliophile birds]

sorry all. i confused my anti-industrialized farming speech with my anti-medication speech (they usually go hand in hand anyway).

i still don't use medicated feed. Akane put it much better than i. glad someone could make our point without sounding like a moron!

ella, your post is really informative. if you really want to medicate, knowing exactly what does what is extremely important. have you ever heard of using raw goats milk instead of amprolium medicated feeds? i've been told by several other organic farmers that it prevents cocci (i'm giving it a try, but won't have any results for a bit). i wonder if something in the goat milk works the same way as the amprolium or if it just that it introduces the protozoa in manageable increments.

another reason i'm glad i don't use medicated feed now: i'm highly allergic to sulfa and don't really want 100s of lbs of sulfonamides laying around. yes, it making me sick is unlikely, but a risk i'm not willing to take.

 

[wombat]

Quote:
You're fine if you stop the medicated well in advance of slaughter. The bag should have instructions. You really only need the medicated for the first four to eight weeks. I believe 8 is the recommended length.

 

[Beekissed]

I've never used medicated feeds, commercial de-wormers or vaccines in my birds. I'm in the crowd who do not want a flock that needs a crutch to survive, as I am planning for long term sustainability.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:
So was Sir Alexander Fleming!

Just do what you consider your best option. As you can see there are pros ad cons on both sides....follow your gut.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
So was Sir Alexander Fleming!

Just do what you consider your best option. As you can see there are pros ad cons on both sides....follow your gut.

I wasn't aware he had chickens......

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:
So was Sir Alexander Fleming!

Just do what you consider your best option. As you can see there are pros ad cons on both sides....follow your gut.

I wasn't aware he had chickens......

He planned for the long term!