To feed my Broilers Medicated feed or Not?

[chickenfeverforever]

So I have broiler chicks arriving tomorrow. We are not a 100% organic family but we try our best to be as chemically and hormone free as possible. A friend of mine says when she fed Non medicated feed to her broilers she lost more then half the chicks and when she ordered some again in the fall and fed medicated feed, she lost none.

Do you feed your broilers medicated feed for the first 3 weeks? How long does the medication stay in their system? What exactly is the medication in the feed?

What should I do?

 

[christina1982]

I have fed mine medicated since they arrived and not only are they ok but extremely healthy!

I have White Rocks, Comets, Black Sex-Linked and White LegHorn chicks

 

[chickenfeverforever]

Quote:
Its the medication staying in their systems I worry about. I dont want to eat medicated meat.

 

[christina1982]

Well, I've heard it does as long as you feed it to them. However, I am only feeding them that for the next week or so (I was told to feed them that from hatch-16 weeks than go to a Layer pellet etc).

I don't blame you, I don't want medicated meat either lol.

 

[chickenfeverforever]

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My birds will not be living anywhere close to 16 weeks. They will be grump in 7 1/2 weeks.

 

[sassychickengirl]

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Its the medication staying in their systems I worry about. I dont want to eat medicated meat.

If you do feed it, you don't have to feed medicated the entire time. You can switch to a non-medicated after week 3 I think. A friend feeds her broilers non-medicated and hasn't had any problems. I think it's personal choice and the broilers your friend got the first time may have been a weak strain, maybe. I do believe it is recommended to only feed medicated for a short time though, for the reasons you stated.