What is the Medication" in medicated chick feed?

[Chicken Paradise]

A co-worker was commenting on the arsenic derivitive placed in commercial chick feed, I could not find the info on the Purina Mills website about what is in the "medicated" part of the feed (it only lists the nutritional content).

Anyone know what they put in it? I may have to call the company to find out.

 

[speckledhen]

Amprolium is the most common. Purina feeds have only Amprolium, while some other brands have small amts of bacitracin or erthopabate (sp), also for battling cocci, I'm told. Arsenic? No idea. Amprolium is a thiamine blocker to combat cocci.

 

[Chicken Paradise]

Thanks speckled for the info. I think the chemical i read about is rox-something, it breaks down into an arsenic compound. We were talking about all the cancer among co-workers and the subject came up. It looks like Purina found a natural solution.

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, roxarsone! I dont think that is in any feed I buy. Yes, that is arsenic and used to be used to combat cocci, I think, but that is not the coccidiostat in feed. Someone on here was looking to buy it, but I did the research and seems it's one of those things that was used way back when. Would not give that to my flock.

Found this for you. Seems it's excreted but still, something seems so wrong about giving birds arsenic.

http://www.mindfully.org/Farm/2004/Arsenic-Chicken-Roxarsone4jan04.htm


From the article

Executives from Perdue Farms Inc. could not be reached for comment on the composition of their feed, though a company spokesman said roxarsone is used "industry-wide"

Maybe it's in commercial operations, but I dont find it on any ingredient list for feeds we buy.​