Is antibiotic laced feed necessary for chicks?

[dheltzel]

That's crazy. I don't buy in volume, I have only had to buy three or four small bags. I was sure the unmedicated here was cheaper. Or at the least the same price. I was only buying 10 lbs at a time though. All of my birdies are too young to be raising a ton of babies. I guess if I ever let any hatch out I will have to buy bigger quantities and might run across that price difference then.

I go through at least 200 lbs a month, just chick starter alone! By getting 100 lb bags directly from the feed mill (they even deliver it with the cow feed) I can get it for about $20 per 100 lb. Our local TSC has non-medicated for about $14.99 for 50 lbs.

 

[ameliadanielle]

I go through at least 200 lbs a month, just chick starter alone! By getting 100 lb bags directly from the feed mill (they even deliver it with the cow feed) I can get it for about $20 per 100 lb. Our local TSC has non-medicated for about $14.99 for 50 lbs.

We just have 11 chickens and 3 muscovies. They all moved on to scratch and pellets and the chick starter was just going bad. They have 1/3 of an acre to roam and forage on, so they eat breakfast but the rest of the day they spend all over the yard. So I was glad I didn't have too much go to waste. We had never raised chicks before so I wasn't sure how much I was going to need so I just kept buying little bags. It cost more but at least not much of it went to waste when they decided those little crumbles just weren't cutting it! Lol. One 50 pound bag would have been way more economical, but now I have an idea of how much I'll need if we decide to hatch out any babies next spring. None of ours have started laying yet but the first group of hens is at the age that should start soon.

We didn't have any sick chicks at all. The only ones we lost were due to predators between dogs (ours and the neighbors) and either hawks or owls. No losses in a long time. Maybe we were lucky getting all healthy chicks.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have always spent the extra money and bought multi-flock starter when the feed store was out of unmedicated chick starter. While multi-flock is more expensive, it's also higher protein, so IMO the cost factor is negligible. I will never knowingly give medicated feed to my birds, but... I'm not saying that it's wrong to use it. I just have a different philosophy, and therefore a different approach.