medicated vs non medicated starter feed

[cafarmgirl]

Feeding medicated feed to vaccinated chicks will not "nullify" their vaccines. They will simply have been exposed to a lot of antibiotics. Perhaps, it is simply a philosophical choice. I choose to avoid unnecessary antibiotic exposure. What ever the choice.

Most people do not feed medicated feed past 6-12 weeks.

Generally the medicated chick starter commonly available at feed stores simply has Amprolium, a coccidiostat added, not antibiotics. Large scale meat bird and other large operations may use antibiotic laced feed but the medicated chick starter the rest of buy at the feed store simply contains a very low level of Amprolium. Many people, myself included, will feed it right up to around 18 weeks of age because that is the most suseptible period for chicks.

I guess my point is that Amprolium and antibiotics are completely different, they do not function the same way at all, they are not even in the same class. I wouldn't want new chicken owners to decide against medicated starter simply because they read something on a forum and think they are pumping their chicks full of antibiotics.

 

[joannarashid]

Generally the medicated chick starter commonly available at feed stores simply has Amprolium, a coccidiostat added, not antibiotics. Large scale meat bird and other large operations may use antibiotic laced feed but the medicated chick starter the rest of buy at the feed store simply contains a very low level of Amprolium. Many people, myself included, will feed it right up to around 18 weeks of age because that is the most suseptible period for chicks.

I guess my point is that Amprolium and antibiotics are completely different, they do not function the same way at all, they are not even in the same class. I wouldn't want new chicken owners to decide against medicated starter simply because they read something on a forum and think they are pumping their chicks full of antibiotics.

Great point! Perhaps I should have been more specific.

Amprolium is a more targeted "anti-bacterial." However, some chick starter feed is medicated with Bacitracin. This is a more broad spectrum anti-biotic worth avoiding. I agree I would not want people who have a lot of chicks or cannot keep up on sanitation of the brooder to lose birds. Amprolium for the first few months would be a far better way to go. My initial response to this thread was to address the confusion over Marek's vaccinations as somehow "replacing" medicated feed or vice versa.