Medicated vs. Unmedicated Feed; Which do you use?

[centrarchid]

Well the other thing we have to look at is what are there eating habits like in the wild?
Look at the domestic goat, they mostly graze on pasture with lots of vegetation close to the ground where the "wild" goats can forage more on trees and shrubs. The wild goats are less likely to pick up parasites.

Now the same can be said with chickens, if your pasture/runs are mostly dry dirt with a few shrubs and "off the ground plants" then your birds are going to be less likely to get parasites than birds that are on a pasture/run that is damp with lost of vegetation that grows on or near the ground.


Chris

When we co-graze goats with cattle or sheep we call goats browsers the other two grazers. The assumption is the goats are consuming broadleaf plants while the other two are consuming grasses. Most pastures are not effectively managed to have good balance forcing goats to eat the same things sheep and cattle are consuming.


Chickens in free range settings tend to concentrate their foraging around feeders. This causes animals for pick around in areas that also have higher concentrations of their own feces. I am trying to manage the forage plant community and spread foraging presssure by moving feeding stations around. Problem you get into is that more land is required and daytime predator management becomes more important. Also, some chicken breeds do not get out and away from feeders and thus are inherintly inclined to re-infect themselves with parasites. I am getting frustrated with all the talk about American Dominiques being good forages but they are clearly not when compared to my games. Some of the games ability to keep putting on mass even without supplmental feeding is not only because of better foraging but also because they may not be re-infecting themselves as much with their own worm burden.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

It has been my experience thus far that ranging ability is strongly individual dependent. When I let my yarded flock out to free-range most of the won't go more than fifty yards or so away from the hen yard. But I have a few who will go a hundred yards or more. They are not of the same breed/variety but are more general.

I've used moving the feeders around to encourage the birds to forage in different areas and it worked well for the time I used it. As you noted though the predator security becomes important. A reliable livestock guardian dog and good fence would likely take care of that problem.

Tractoring is not the equivalent of free-range, but if moved at least daily it does allow the birds access to fresh pasture while keeping them protected. Another benefit is that it allows one to control where the manure is laid down. I am on the Florida sand ridge so my soil is poor and droughty. My pasture was very bad when we first bought the place. The lower end more nearly resembled a beach than a grassy field. Several years of pulling a chicken tractor over it has greatly improved the poor areas. Very little sand visible any more and if our rainy season doesn't crap out (we've had drought for years) I expect the last of those areas to disappear this year.

Only after they've spent a few months in their grow-out tractors then a full season in a layer tractor do the birds get moved to the fixed hen yard. By that point they've built up a fair degree of tolerance to the local parasites, more so than if I'd moved them straight in from the brooder.

 

[centrarchid]

It has been my experience thus far that ranging ability is strongly individual dependent. When I let my yarded flock out to free-range most of the won't go more than fifty yards or so away from the hen yard. But I have a few who will go a hundred yards or more. They are not of the same breed/variety but are more general.
I've used moving the feeders around to encourage the birds to forage in different areas and it worked well for the time I used it. As you noted though the predator security becomes important. A reliable livestock guardian dog and good fence would likely take care of that problem.
Tractoring is not the equivalent of free-range, but if moved at least daily it does allow the birds access to fresh pasture while keeping them protected. Another benefit is that it allows one to control where the manure is laid down. I am on the Florida sand ridge so my soil is poor and droughty. My pasture was very bad when we first bought the place. The lower end more nearly resembled a beach than a grassy field. Several years of pulling a chicken tractor over it has greatly improved the poor areas. Very little sand visible any more and if our rainy season doesn't crap out (we've had drought for years) I expect the last of those areas to disappear this year.
Only after they've spent a few months in their grow-out tractors then a full season in a layer tractor do the birds get moved to the fixed hen yard. By that point they've built up a fair degree of tolerance to the local parasites, more so than if I'd moved them straight in from the brooder.

I can get homebodies like American Dominiques to range further if harem master is a game. Use of games though does not scale up when desire is to have several groups of about 50 birds since roosters tend to get to each other. This year will try to use American Dominique x games to see if more leaders can be feilded in same pasture. Also, when free-ranged in pasture, dispersal of birds is very much a function of vegetation height. My main pasture of about 6 acres has patches of more dense and taller vegetation, especially around fence row. Birds seem to be attached to rubber bands that keep them from ranging far from those patches. This can result in birds over grazing perimeter but leaving bulk of inner area untouched. Also patches can be too tall and / or too dense causing birds to avoid those as well.

 

[schwolton]

So I am new to the chicken game...my little silkie chicks still live in a box in my kitchen, and I just bought a giant bag of unmedicated food because we plan to eat the eggs they make eventually. So what is coccoditis?? I live in southern Minnesota is it something that happens when it rains a lot?

 

[JeremyinNC]

Never used medicated. I keep a very small # of birds (less than a dozen) all on 2 1/2 acres of pasture. I'd rather cull the ones prone to get sick and replace them in the next generation. If I was doing this for a profit I'd probably look at it differently but my hope is to have a very hardy flock that's been bred to do well in my area (North Carolina) and be hands off enough so by the time I'm retired all I have to do is collect the eggs.

edit:Interesting on the 50 yards post. Mine are happy to go all over the place. They sleep on the stairs to the deck but will go across the street to the neighbors or down to the creek. Probably 300 yards is the furthest I've seen them go but they'll range ~200 pretty frequently. It's a nice area though (from a chicken point of view) always low trees they can hide under/fly into if they need to.

Either way the layers still prefer my garage to their coop or outside, not sure why. Maybe it means I need to clean out some of piles of tools etc in there.

 

[JeremyinNC]

It's more about ground moisture than rain. If your land has decent drainage you should be OK, the crazy temp swings you guys get are actually a good thing as far as preventing infectious diseases. They like it where it's warm and moist, especially if it's like that all the time. If your birds show signs of being sick I might re-think it but otherwise you should be fine.

Medicated feed shouldn't matter while they are chicks as far as eggs go. Basically it's diarrhea, they may get over it on their own but it's nasty and (especially for chicks) can wipe them out pretty fast because they get dehydrated. Good sanitation and giving them enough room will help prevent it.

 

[HeatherEmme]

Medicated feed can only be used as a 'preventative' measure, and even then if your chicken's environment is positive with coccidia, it may not prevent your chickens from being infected. Coccidia is a dangerous parasite that should be taken seriously. Medicated feed is not treatment. So, using or not using is simply preference.

 

[JeremyinNC]

I think you are confusing vaccinating with medicated feed. Medicated feed is not truly preventative (aside from the sanitation benefits of the stool contain fewer organisms which will reduce the chance of other birds contracting the disease).
It can slow down the spread and/or give infected birds enough help to prevent them from dying but feeding it to a bird does not prevent infection. Medicating exposed birds can give them breathing room to allow their own systems to fight back but it does NOT prevent the infection the way a vaccination would (which "primes" the birds immune system to fight the disease before they are exposed.

 

[HeatherEmme]

I agree that it's not truly a preventative, however, that seems to be the consensus around here and I said that as not to offend anyone while hoping to deter people from using it as treatment. I've seen people recommend it for treatment which is dangerous as well as these milk flushes. I work in animal rescue and we see coccidia in almost every animal we deal with. Unfortunately I am all too familiar with this parasite. In fact I have just recently had to treat my own cat for it just two weeks ago. She was a rescue turned keeper =) Thankfully I already had pancur on hand from treating a previous case and was able to treat her as soon as I was aware of symptoms. I hate hate hate coccidia.