Medicated chick feed?

[Denim Deb]

Currently, I have 3 chicks, 2 cocks and a pullet. They're almost 12 weeks old, and I'm almost out of chick feed. However, I'm planning on sending the boys to freezer camp soon, so I'm planning on buying just a small bag of feed. But, I have a couple of questions.

1. How old should they be b4 heading off to camp?

2. I've been feeding them medicated feed. What's the medicine for, and is this really necessary?

3. If it is, do they need to be off of it for a certain amount of time b4 being slaughtered?

Thanks.

 

[BarredBuff]

1. How old should they be b4 heading off to camp?
I would wait until they are 16 weeks old. By then they will be asbig as they will get but still tender.
2. I've been feeding them medicated feed. What's the medicine for, and is this really necessary?
The medicine is for Coccidiosis. Its really not neccesary from what Ive found.
3. If it is, do they need to be off of it for a certain amount of time b4 being slaughtered?
I think they are supposed to be off any medicine for 10 days.

 

[Beekissed]

The med in medicated feed is Amprollium, which is a thiamine inhibitor....not the best thing for general health, as we are always striving to get more thiamine in our diets. Which is why some cereals and other foods are thiamine enhanced.

Supposedly, if one inhibits thiamine, this discourages overgrowth of cocci in the bowel of chicks.

I've never used medicated feeds and I've never vaccinated for this....never had it in any of my flocks or chicks. At least...if I have it, it doesn't evidence itself in any way. I've read that everyone HAS it...it is a naturally occuring flora in the bowel.

Best bet is to not feed your chickens~ that you intend to eat later~ anything that you would not intentionally ingest now.

I can't imagine you will still be feeding medicated chick starter to chickens that were of butchering age anyway, so the detox time shouldn't matter.

 

[lwheelr]

Medicated chicken feed was developed for mass production facilities. The close quarters and large numbers give rise to rare problems becoming common ones. So they then compensate with something else unnatural that in turn, produces another serious side effect which then has to be compensated for. Mass produced chicks, bred for type but not for hardiness also have low adaptibility and poor disease resistence as a rule anyway.

So commercial chick feeds are created for that kind of environment and mentality. Yeah, I suppose I have a bad attitude about it, but with good reason.

We fed our ducks meatbird feed for a while, which is unmedicated (it is higher in protein than layer feed, best for chickens preparing for the freezer). I won't feed my animals anything that has medications in it because it tends to weaken their immune systems and cause a range of other problems which explains a lot about why chicken raising books make it sound so complicated, and why they think that disease is lurking prevalently just waiting to strike your flock.

If your chickens are well cared for, and given a variety of greens and grains in addition to feed, they simply do not need medicated feed. Research has shown that backyard flocks have far less disease incident per chicken than production facility raised poultry.

 

[Denim Deb]

Thanks, guys. I'm still fairly new to all this. Eventually, I want to get away from commercial feeds altogether for ALL of my animals, horses included. So, looks like I'll be buying a small bag of unmedicated chick feed. I figure that should last me for 4 weeks, and have to hope that the neighbors don't start to complain since at least 1 of them has figured out he can crow!

 

[Beekissed]

I always kill roos by 4 mo. and have them on regular flock ration after the first bag of chick feed is gone....you may get by much cheaper if you just feed them your regular flock ration. If they are for eating, I generally just feed them just what I feed to my layers.

 

[Denim Deb]

I've heard that you shouldn't feed regular layer feed younger than 18 weeks because of the extra calcium in the feed. Any truth to this?

 

[lwheelr]

You can probably go to the least expensive unmedicated poultry feed that you can find. As long as you make sure they get adequate protein, they should do fine.

You can supplement protein by grinding up scrap meat (cooked) and giving it to them, or by getting a bag of chipped sunflower seed and thistle mix (they only need a little of this, not a ton of it - we pay about $20 a bag for it, but it lasts a long time). You can also feed them leftover cooked beans to enhance protein, or you can sprout some grains.

Those are about the cheapest ways to do it - and if you are going to natural feeds long term, the experience will help you phase into it instead of jumping in with both feet.

Don't forget to start giving them chopped up veggie scraps too - carrot peelings, lettuce or cabbage and celery cores, broccoli stems (shred those), pepper cores, parsley stems, wilted greens, etc. You can give them potato peels if you cook them. This not only helps them grow better and helps their immune system, you'll just end up with healthier stock all around. Chicks can start having this stuff, chopped fine, from a few days old, in small amounts, increasing as they get older.

 

[Beekissed]

There is....and I found that out the hard way. But, if you are merely eating these chickens at a very young age, you will not be reaping the ill benefits of long term organ failure or damage. Shows up much later in their lives and you will have made them into soup by then.

You can also just use a general flock ration and supply oyster shell ad lib for your layers~ and still get by cheaper than feeding chick feed until they are 18 wks.

 

[lwheelr]

Layer feed does have extra calcium. We don't use it at all for that reason (because we have mixed flocks), and many others don't either.

When we were still feeding our chickens commercial feed, we just used meatbird feed, and gave them oyster shell free choice (along with dirt to get grit out of, and salt). They'll peck through a container of oyster shell, dirt and salt mix to get what they need out of it. With the layer feed, they don't have a choice, because it is blended in, but if you give them the choice, they'll take what they need, and not more.

That is best when you have roosters, hens, and chicks running together, because then they can get what they need individually, just like they would in the wild.