Purina medicated chick starter

[Azmomm]

Does anyone know why it advises not to change the litter unless absolutely necessary when feeding this.

 

[007Sean]

It's just a guess but I think the reason is to be able to take a sample of the feces to a vet for analysis. The part of the instructions covered up by the marker, states that if .05% of the birds die, to consult a veterinarian....most likely would also want to do a fecal slide.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Does anyone know why it advises not to change the litter unless absolutely necessary when feeding this. View attachment 1728079

Let's get to the nitty gritty here, chicks eat poop or at least they taste it, they dig through shavings and poop, that's what they do.
You want them to have exposure to poop so they can build resistance to the Coccidia found in poop.
Keep water spills and any wet areas cleaned up - i.e. keep your brooder dry.

 

[Azmomm]

Let's get to the nitty gritty here, chicks eat poop or at least they taste it, they dig through shavings and poop, that's what they do.
You want them to have exposure to poop so they can build resistance to the Coccidia found in poop.
Keep water spills and any wet areas cleaned up - i.e. keep your brooder dry.

This sounds like a reasonable answer, all the better to go a few days without a litter change. I just saw the instructions and prior to that, last 4 weeks, was changing out the litter daily

 

[Wyorp Rock]

This sounds like a reasonable answer, all the better to go a few days without a litter change. I just saw the instructions and prior to that, last 4 weeks, was changing out the litter daily

You should be o.k.
Sometimes a brooder can be too "clean" and chicks don't have the opportunity to build resistance. The medicated feed will only take that so far, it does not "prevent" chicks from having an overload. Amprolium simply simulates B1(thiamine) which starves out Coccidia
Edited, to clarify...Amprolium acts a a vitamin B1 (Thiamine) blocker (synthetic mimicker), which "starves" Coccidia - this allows chicks to build resistance/(chicks immune system can be built up). Now...there are plenty of times that chicks can have an overload while on medicated feed - a warm moist environment causes Coccidia to flourish - so...bedding kept dry, water spills cleaned up and of course water/feed stations kept as free of poop as possible.

It's not saying you can't clean the bedding, if it's stinky, scoop out excess poop and add bedding, you just don't want to change it all out completely.