When to switch off med chick starter and to what?

[NCchicken]

I have four chicks that will be five week on saturday 2/26/11 and they are running out of the medicated chick starter. Do I buy more and use it until they are about 15-18 weeks or do I use something else? I have started to give them some cracked corn to scratch at and some sunflower seeds (bird seed mix) and of course they love all the dried mealworms too. But what do I feed them now? More med chick starter? They can't possibly be feed layer mash already, right? I heard that can mess up their kidneys. I'm not sure if our farmer supply carries an inbettween feed or not. Thanks in advance!

 

[NCchicken]

Nevermind. I just figured that the Feeding and Water Flocks section would be a smarter place to post this question. Sorry.

 

[Fred's Hens]

At five weeks, most of the benefits of the medication has done its job and the chicks' own immunity is now growing. Since you still have "some" feed left, you'll likely be at or near week 6 with the medicated feed. It wouldn't hurt to buy another small bag of it, but personally, I wouldn't bother. The decision is yours to make as you see best.

 

[Gypsy07]

When they come off starter crumbles, move them onto growers pellets (or mash).
They don't need layers pellets (or mash) till they're nearly ready to start laying.