when and if to medicat young chick?

[kat1117]

I have 4 chicks hatched by hen in our flock. There are so many different opinions on using medicated chick feed or not. My question is do you use medicated feed even if they aren't sick and at what age do you worm them and with what worm medicine? Any input would be helpful I haven't used the medicated feed.

 

[Judy]

Medicated feed does not treat illness. It helps them build immunity to a common but serious illness, coccidiosis, by inhibiting thiamine uptake in the cocci that are in the bird. It acts on any cocci present, not on the chicken.

I use medicated feed and worm annually (starting at one year) with Valbazen.

 

[Wyandottes7]

You've received some good advice on medicated feed for Coccidiosis.

Keep in mind that medicated feed only gives a chicken a chance to build resistance to Coccidiosis. If their are a large number of Coccidiosis protozoa in the soil or if conditions aren't kept clean enough (dirty water, etc), a chicken can still get Coccidiosis. Medicated feed is a preventative measure that doesn't always work. That's why its always good to have Corid on hand to treat Coccidiosis just in case your birds get it anyways.

I worm my birds for the first time at around 6-8 months. It it not usually necessary to deworm sooner, as birds haven't had a lot of time to develop a worm infestation. I deworm once or twice a year after that.

Probably the two best dewormers are Valbazen(albendazole) and Safeguard for goats (fenbendazole). Both cover most or all worms (Safeguard doesn't get tapeworms, unless it is at a high dose). You can buy these two dewormers at Tractor Supply or online. One place to get both dewormers is at Jeffers Pet Supply: http://www.jefferspet.com/.

Don't get Wazine(piperazine)- it only kills roundworms. Though roundworms are the most common chicken worm, there are other worms that Wazine will miss.

Hope this helps!