Medicated chick starter?

What would you think about feeding grown birds Medicated chick starter for a couple weeks during the cold spell. They will also get sunflower seeds and corn. They are not laying anyway so no worries about eggs.

I just read about someone else doing that... maybe on BYC? I don't know enough about the difference to speak to it, though.

Would the medicated starter make it so eggs are not edible? I read something also, but I believe it was against it. Someone with better understanding can help more. :(

Well the rooster that had a cold a few weeks ago I was feeding him the medicated starter and he got better. I had mentioned it here then. Like I said they are not laying so collecting eggs is not an issue and I would assume that waiting the 4-6 weeks after stop feeding them the medicated feed. That should put it to start collecting eggs about the end of Feb or beginning of March. That is if they were on this feed for 2 weeks. I need to go to the feed store anyway, so will probably just get the antibiotics for their water.

Good luck with everything! You have already had so much lose! I dont want to see you loose anymore!

What are you feeding the medicated feed for??

If it's for sickness Medicated chick starter contains Amprol and is in a small dosage to ward off cocci in chicks.
Amprol is not an antibiotic and would not be good for a grown chicken as amprol controls cocci thru vitamin deprevation (Quoteing Damerow)
Therefore it could deprive your chickens of needed vitamins and cause poor health.
If you are trying to raise thier protein use game bird feed instead.

If you suspect coccidiois use Amprol as treatment i get mine at the feed store under the name Corrid.

If you treat with Amprol after the treatment provide vitamins and electrolites along with a small amount of yogurt. This will bring back up their vitamins and the yogurt helps get their bowels back on the right track.

( cocci short for coccidiosis)

Excellent advice Harmony. I didn't think about what the vitamin deprevation would do to an adult. I was just thinking medicated was good to ward off things and didn't even think that it was just for one condition (Cocci).

Sheila

Thanks Harmony,

I never even thought about that. Mainly I was just going to try it more for preventative measures kinda like the old saying, an apple a day keeps the Doctor away. Something has gone thru my flock I do not know what. I only feed them the medicated feed once and at that not to much.

Even my female turkey got something and she was down for a few days but she made a full recovery.

I don't even use medicated for my chicks and I have strong healthy chickens. That's not to say that I don't have the "mystery death" now and again, but I think we all do. I worry about chickens getting unessisary medications, additives and chemicals. I think it has a lot to do with all the health problems we have today. That's why I don't eat cmmercial eggs or chicken unless I have to. I depend more on giving my chickens natural boosts with extra fresh foods along with locally made feed.

It probably would not hurt the adult birds on an occasional basis, but I would rather treat specific problems as they come up. It's kind of like taking multi symptom cold medications when all you have is a runny nose.

What you said Jyl. I have been one that did NOT want to use medication unless absolutely necessary but with all the trouble I have been having. I do give them the fresh veggie and fruit scraps.

It may be worth a try. Maybe you could mix it half and half with their regular food. Are you feeding them high protine crumbles or mash. During times of stress or deep cold, I up the protine.

mine are getting about 16 to 18 percent protein with corn and SF seeds added, along with layer pellets.

I cant really treat a symptom that I do not know what the symptom is. Eyes are clear and clean, nothing looks out of the ordinary. Bodies intact, no blood, vent is clean. They just dropped dead. Is was not even cold the nights before i found them.

I have a few birds that THINK they must roost on my front porch that is facing the north and on the cold night that we have had they made it. I am totally convinced it is not the cold. I just do not know.

Are they older chickens? What about worming them? Are the combs paler than normal?

I don't think it's the cold. They are smart enough to find warmer spots if they are cold. Is there any posibility that they might be finding some antifreeze. They will go for that even if it has soaked into the ground. I lost two that way before we discovered my son had a small leak in his radiator. They were actually eating the dirt where it dripped.

One year we lost three young hens (6 to 7 months old). I just found them dead in the hen house over a period of a week with no apparent reason. They were all from the same batch of chicks and we finially chalked it up to poor breeding practices at the nursery. That batch just never fared as well as my others.

Birds are tough to diagnose.

Birds are tough to diagnose that is for sure. No leaking antifreeze Actually I did think of that. What ever it is they caught it or got into it down in the pen and coop. Most of the 1st set of birds hardly ever left that area. No Styrofoam, no insulation of any type. One thing I do know they had free access to rolled corn. Could to much be bad. When I went out there that morning the lid was off the crate that help the corn and I still have yet to find it. Maybe they ate the hard plastic lid!!!!!!!!! No mold in the pens or their feed. And something you said might just be it, these birds were at least all 5 month old to 2 years old. Some had already had a tough life and made it thru an ordeal before I got them, and the ones that were mine were from a hatchery. Not knocking hatchery birds tho.

When just a couple die you kinda scratch your head and wonder but when they are everywhere and in the numbers I had then it is what the heck!!!!!!!!

The corn certainly wouldn't hurt them unless you got a contaminated bag of feed which is always a possibility these days.

but they all ate from this one bag. I am just going to move on and take it how it comes to me. I am doing everything in my power to keep them safe and healthy. My female turkey was down for a couple days during this time frame also but she recovered. Who knows, I can sit here all day and second guess and speculate till I am blue in the face. I do know I really do not want it to happen again.

Thanks for all the info.

oooh. Sorry to hear about your losses. I'm trying to get inspired to move / rebuild our small chicken pen for this spring. My DH wants to get more bantam chickens -- there are a couple of shows in the spring that we should be able to find some replacements for his belgian d'uccles. Before I restock I want to make sure I have properly "critter-proofed" the enclosures -- not to mention clearing our some hazard trees that I don't want to fall. Aside from the usual dogs, cats, possums / raccoons, from time to time there will be bobcats, coyotes, foxes, and bears romping through here. Not that I expect to be able to keep out a determined bear, but I'd hope that they would be more interested in my household trash cans, than my chickens. I didn't want to post to your earlier thread, due to the meanie (looks like Dave canceled them now) that was lurking/ posting there.

In the meantime, I've been checking out various poultry sites -- mainly looking at designs for lawn tractor re-design ideas. Anyhooo .... Every time I read about "bio-security" I thought about your chickens dying after having strangers tramping around your property. With the number of birds affected, I wonder if you could get the local ag center or university to check into what may have caused this.

Somewhere I remember seeing a motion-activated anti-critter light system which had a red flashing light. After reading your ordeal, I wish I could remember where I saw it.

I'm also keeping my eyes open for information on sanitizing an area prior to setting up a chicken yard -- or after a suspected (or confirmed) exposure.

I hope your chicken ordeal is over.


http://www.bantamclub.com/biosecurity/measures.html
http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/contents.htm Archive of Poultry Health Articles
http://www.poultrynews.com/New/Diseases.htm

WELCOME CUTNGLASS!!!!!

Its nice to see you here. Chickens are not a requirement! Jump in!
jeanmaire