Medicated vs Nonmedicated feed...

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:03 am

Just an aside, just read a paper for poultry industry, where better results in health of chick in large barns are achieved by leaving some of the OLD Bedding from previous batch behind,
as opposed to the Industry standard of..Everything out..Disinfect....and start with new bedding.
Will wonders never cease ?

G Williams · Post by **G Williams** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:34 am

I feed non-medicated Chick starter as the chicks only ration. No problems yet! My chicks don't free range so I let the experts decide the formulation. My experience with livestock is that if newborns don't get off to a good start they never catch up to their full potential. Once they hit 4 weeks I start to introduce farm grains and greens or pasture. I question the need for feeds designed for high production industrial meat birds or layers, reasoning that at $250/tonne for wheat versus $640/Tonne for bagged Poultry grower/layer, I can live with a slightly lower level of production.

Bayvistafarm · Post by **Bayvistafarm** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 11:27 am

ALL things should be organic. Pesticides, herbicides, etc. If two people in the world became 7 billion... or however we got here, or how many there actually are....... aren't things all natural or weren't they in the beginning??

lol. Just rambling.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 12:31 pm

We became 7 billion after we stopped being all- natural and organic.

: worldpopulat.gif (10.57 KiB) Viewed 2309 times

More detail:

: vanishing_what_exponential.gif (5.99 KiB) Viewed 2309 times

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 12:37 pm

Ontario Chick wrote:QR_BBPOST Just an aside, just read a paper for poultry industry, where better results in health of chick in large barns are achieved by leaving some of the OLD Bedding from previous batch behind,
as opposed to the Industry standard of..Everything out..Disinfect....and start with new bedding.
Will wonders never cease ?

OC do you have that link handy? thanks.

Farrier1987 · Post by **Farrier1987** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 6:04 pm

I do like my broody hen raising her chicks, a lot of the diseases just don't seem to happen. Yes, I lose a few chicks to unknown causes, but generally a healthy bunch running around eating bugs and such that the mother general tells them to. I feed whole grain, usually corn and wheat mixed. The hen clucks at them and cracks some corn with her beak. I am not against medicated, but prefer to do things in a natural vein when I can. And if a hen hatches a dozen and only 8 or 9 make it to full grown, then I am ok with it. Its why they have a dozen at a time, not all of them make it and the whole is better fro it I think.