medicated water vs medicated feed

[OpalRaven7]

Hi, I am getting some baby chicks and I was wondering the pros/cons of medicating the water vs using medicated food? I was told its better and safer to medicate the water? The feed store is getting the chicks shipped to them so I know they need some sort of medication to prevent coccidia, and I just want my little ones to be healthy

 

[schellie69]

I have never heard of medicated water, I use the medicated chick starter. Seems to work for me. Good luck.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
Medicated chick feed has a preventative that helps build up their resistance to cocci as they grow out.. I've never heard of one used in water for chicks. There are meds use to stop or help with cocci in adult birds.

 

[speckledhen]

You can add Amprolium as a preventative in water at a lower dose than when you are actually treating coccidiosis--it's on the Corid label how to do that, however, it would be a major pain to have to do that daily, long term. If you want them to have the amprolium, best just to buy medicated feed so there is no extra work, IMO.

 

[fried green eggs]

Hi, I'm new to raising chicks but, my cousin works at the feed store where I got my chicks and has had chickens for years and she told me to add the antibiotic powder to my new chicks water for the first few weeks and I have had no sick chicks and all are thriving. I will stop giving it to them once they are settled into the new coop. It's much cheaper than using medicated feed.

 

[plucker]

TSC recommended medicated water (adding tetracycline to the water) which I have done. I have lost no chicks, had no illness and everyone is doing fine.

Of course I am a 1st time chick owners so I have no basis for comparison but it seems worth the $5 paid. And I assume I can use this for other animals if necessary.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Absolutely wrong, sorry. Antibiotics don't stave off illness. Why treat healthy birds for weeks with antibiotics that will mess up their good gut flora? That is the worst thing you can do to a healthy bird, the worst. Antibiotics will not stop coccidiosis, which is not caused by bacteria, but a protozoan. Do you take antibiotics on a daily basis to keep from getting sick? Think about it-does that even make sense, really?

Antibiotics given to birds when they are at the age to most likely get cocci, which ravages the intestines like antibiotics do, could actually kill the chicks! Antibiotics treat bacteria, not viruses, not protozoans, same as with humans.

And TSC is doing harm with that ridiculous recommendation. The reason you haven't lost any chicks is because they were healthy in the first place, not because of unnecessary antibiotics--I don't lose chicks, either, and I never, ever give antibiotics to them, not ever.

Please, please stop the antibiotics, folks. The information you were given was flat-out wrong.

I've never seen medicated feed any higher priced than non-medicated feed, not from Purina, not from Southern States, not Buckeye, not ADM Alliance, not Tucker Milling. All are the same around here. If it is more expensive where you are, you can certainly feed non-medicated and watch for signs of cocci, then treat with Corid, which is a high concentration of the amprolium in medicated feed.

I want to make it clear that I am not angry with the folks who posted this, just the bad advice they were given, but this is one of my pet peeves so I am very passionate about it.

 

[Wynette]

Folks, I know you think you're doing the right thing by your chicks - when someone from the feed store gives a recommendation, who would think they could be wrong? Well - please use this as a learning experience. Speckledhen has YEARS of experience and knows what she's talking about. She's "been there, done that" more times than probably all of us combined. She is passionate about her chickens, and the care of livestock...she's trying to convey how important this stuff is - If you believe nothing else you hear today - please heed her information!

So...if you've had your chicks on antibiotics, please discontinue. You'll want to give them yogurt (plain) for several days; this will help return the good gut balance to them. Has this done damage to your chicks? It's hard to know at this point. All you can do is learn from it & move on.

Use BYC as a good reference point - get super familiar with the search feature above in the blue bar. You can find probably 99.5% of the information you need to raise healthy, happy, productive chickens right here on BYC! And don't think for a minute that we "old timers" haven't made similar mistakes - when I got my first order of chicks (6 of them), I didn't know about pasty butt. I DID notice that one of my chicks, at about 5 days old, had a chunk of dried poo on her backside. When I carefully remove it, she pooped a HUGE amount of poo right in my hand. She was so backed up - she would have likely died that night. Why didn't I know about such a common thing? I didn't do my research...that's when I found BYC. I sure won't make THAT mistake again!

So - sorry to ramble, just want all you peeps to know that we're not trying to "chastise" or hand slap - just please learn from this, move on, and do right by your little ones!

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you, Wynette. I am very passionate about this issue and I don't want it to come off that I'm angry with the peeps who posted about it, not at all.

We all make mistakes and learn from them, but trust me, those healthy little babies do not need any antibiotics, which in the end, may actually harm them, the opposite of the intent.

 

[OpalRaven7]

ok so use medicated feed then? They were shipped to a feed store so they need some sort of medication right? What is the differance between the meds in the feed and the meds put in the water? I just want to be clear on this before i pick up my chicks later. Thanks so much for all the help!! These are my 1st chicks/chickens