When is Medicated/Non Necessary?

[Beekissed]

Put them general flock raiser rations and they will do fine. After my chicks and mamas go through one bag of chick starter they get the general flock feed (non-layer type feed) and they thrive well. Mom won't be needed the extra calcium for awhile and you can offer that free choice separately from her feed.

It's a crying shame that nonmedicated chick starter is so dang hard to find...almost like a conspiracy. Amprollium is a thiamine inhibitor and thiamine is important in so many ways to a young chick's diet. Feeding medicated to promote good chick health is a contradiction of care.

 

[gritsar]

It won't hurt the mama to eat the medicated. The vaccine and the medicated feed basically cancel out each other, making it a waste of $$ to get them vaccinated.
Again, ask your feed store about a flockraiser type feed. Purina makes one. The one I feed is made by a company called Big V. It's called Allway Kernels. I feed it to everyone and just offer the hens oyster shell on the side.

 

[Erica]

Extra protein whichever starter (med or non-med) you used won't harm the hen, and will help bring her back to laying condition after being broody.

Medicated vs non medicated is your personal choice, and each side has its pitfalls. For low numbers of birds, especially with a hen, I can't see why anyone would ever use medications when a bit of management will work fine. For me I guess the extra expense for non medicated feed is worth it for my values.

But if you're the type of person who trusts commercial interests to look after your interests, go for it with the meds. Unless you brood lots of chicks (in which case coccidiostat resistance is a real problem) both methods work fine.

 

[Arielle]

THe coccidiosis vaccine is a LIVE vaccine, that means the chicks are given a very small amount of altered coccidia allowing the chicks natural immune system to build immunity that will last a long time. Some vaccines need revaccination; some last a life time. I'm trying to find out about revaccinating of Cocciosis. So feeding a medicated feed, coccidiostats are in the antibiotic family, (long dicsussion w/ my brother a pharmasist) so feeding a medicated feed will nullify the effectiveness of the live vaccine.MErecks is not a live vaccine and is not effected by medicated feed. My understannding is that when feeding medicated feed it only needs to be the first few months of life when most suseptable. and it's ok for the adults to eat it but they don't neccessarily need it. SOrry this is such a long blah blah blah . . . . you should have heard the 1 hour lecture from my brother!

 

[shepan2]

unforturnately, i didn't notice i was feeding (medicated feed) until after the first week - my 26 chicks were vaccinated at the hatchery. after reading the posts - seems like this may become a problem for the flock - is there anything i can do to ensure my chicks remain safe?