Medicated or unmedicated feed?

There are a lot of different opinions on medicated vs. non-medicated. For Mereks, it's a shot. The hatcheries administer them in mass. Medicated feed is for cocci.

Both are listed in the ed section on here.

I used medicated, mostly because I couldn't find anything else. But I'm sure you'll hear plenty from others on their experiences and opinions!

 

Medicated will prevent cocci. You can use it for 8-10 weeks, at which point they will have built up an immunity, and you can switch to non-medicated. Around here the only chick starter available is medicated, so I assume it is wise to use.

Marek's disease typically only occurs when flocks are mixed, i.e., new birds from outside brought into an existing flock. Many chicken keepers never bring birds into their flock from outside and have never had to deal with Marek's disease.
If mixing could occur in the future, by all means vaccinate against Marek's.

 

I didnt use medicated with my first chicks and I don't plan to in the future. They did fine without it and are 12 weeks now and in good health. One of the reasons I got my own chickens was to avoid some of the medications, hormones and general crapola in the food supply. I don't medicate anything around here unless its absolutly necessary.

 

Quote:I wouldnt either but you can only get medicated feed around here

 

Medicated feed if only containing amprol is a a thamine blocker that prevents cocci protozoa from reporducing in the gut and making them sick. For medicated feed to work as intended, you MUST expose the chicks to the soils they will be living on as an adult so they have something to become immune to. The med in the feed just prevents an overload.

Cocci is a huge issue in some areas that are wet and moist most of the year, and non existent in others which are dry. The PNW has soil in which it thrives so I tend to use it. However, if you give day old chicks a dish of soil from the run, and don't keep the too "clean", as in no need to clean the brooder after each dropping, they will get a natural immunity on their own with a small risk of too many building up. Regardless if you give medicated feed as chicks, if you have a high percentage of cocci in the soil outside, they can ingest enough oocysts to make them sick even if they do not reproduce in the birds.

 

Have never vaccinated or used medicated feeds and have never lost a chick nor had any incidence of cocci in my flocks.