Ok, heres the deal, i recently got a few chicks, i have a small back yard flock that i bought at 16 weeks last year, then i stumbled across BYC, you lot got me thinking/hooked/obsessed and now i have 4 chickens, 2 chicks and possibly meat birds next! So, i was at the feed store buying the chicks, the guy there had 4 dozen birds all raised from chicks on UNmedicated feed. He suggested i used UNmedicated feed because anything i feed them eventually gets into me via the eggs.
Now, i am no tree hugging hippy but environmentally conscious, i am relative rookie at this chickenry but feel like an aged old pro with the amount of info/advice i have consumed through this forum! So, one person likened using the medicated feed to our baby shots, they dont help increase the ferocity of bacteria and breed drug resistant illnesses, another likened it to the opposite and encouraged as "natural" raising as possible.
My question is, not about different peoples opinion on the medicated vs unmedicated but the science. Can we come to a conclusion that if you do not have a history of disease in your flock and you only introduce chicks to the flock, that it is safe to use unmendicated or is there compelling science (like that of our baby shots) that should encourage us towards using medicated?
Now, i am no tree hugging hippy but environmentally conscious, i am relative rookie at this chickenry but feel like an aged old pro with the amount of info/advice i have consumed through this forum! So, one person likened using the medicated feed to our baby shots, they dont help increase the ferocity of bacteria and breed drug resistant illnesses, another likened it to the opposite and encouraged as "natural" raising as possible.
My question is, not about different peoples opinion on the medicated vs unmedicated but the science. Can we come to a conclusion that if you do not have a history of disease in your flock and you only introduce chicks to the flock, that it is safe to use unmendicated or is there compelling science (like that of our baby shots) that should encourage us towards using medicated?