I am new at this so, my terminology is less than perfect..please excuse me. I went to my local feed store and asked about the chick starter feed as I am expecting my first chicks from a hatchery soon. They recommended a bag of 28%. My question is this, what does the 28% stand for(28% of what?) and is this correct for raising Barred Rock and Buff Orpingtons?

The 28% refers to protein. On a attatched tag or reverse side of the feed bag will be a list of ingredients. By law ingredients will be listed in decreasing order. The most common protein is soy. Once you become more familiar with feeding livestock, it will pay you to research different feeds but meanwhile, your feed dealer will, most likely , steer you straight. THe main thing to know is dont be a price shopper. The best feeds cost only a bit more than lessor feeds.

Mamahen, there should be a tag on the feed bag that you bought. It should give an analytical breakdown of your feed. If you bought 28%, my bet is that you bought 28% protein ration. My feed Co-op provides us with 16% and 26% protein (lay ration) feed. But, there is always a tag sewn into the top or bottom stitching that gives the analysis. You should be able to find this tag and see what the analysis is.

If you are raising chicks now, you need a medicated chick or "broiler" starter ration. The "medication" is for coccidiosis, which is a big killer of baby chicks.

Good Luck!

Thanks. I just inquired about the chick starting feeds they carried and did not buy any yet because I wanted to check with all of you on here to make sure I purchase the correct feed. So, I didnt have a bag to look at and I guesss I was just too embarrassed to ask the feed store man what the 28% stood for. He didnt mention any brand names, just stated that they carry the 28% starter. Is this 28% protein what I need if it is a medicated starter?

Just wanted to chime in here. We don't use medicated feed, even with the chicks. Never have and never will. Everything I've researched tells me that they will build up a natural immunity to coccidiosis if you brood them with a slow exposure to droppings. It is also necessary to keep them from being exposed to the droppings of older birds for a while as well. But we are against medicated feed with our little flock because we believe they benefit much more from a natural immunity versus medicated protection that is then suddenly cut off when they move on to the next feed.

Just my 2¢ and what works for us.

Susie

hmmm...well, I have a medication for coccidiosis that you add to the drinking water of dogs. (I raise pups also.) I wonder if you can use this for chicks if they do develop coccidiosis? I would like to raise my chicks as chemical-free as practically possible. But, at what I am paying for them, I hate to loose any if I can help it. Since Im not planning on eating my pups I use this medication on them, but I have reservations about medicating chickens that my family is going to eat. What do you think? Medication or not?

Mamahen, I agree with you when it comes to medications for my baby chicks,I steer clear of any medicated feed for the reasons that you state- we eat that medicated meat sooner or later.I feed the chicks hard boiled eggs mixed with oatmeal porridge for the first two weeks after they hatch. Because I also like to be as ORGANIC as possible, I do not buy any of the laying mashes that you all talk about. My laying hens get nothing but home grown wheat( and oyster shells for grit in the winter time). My flock of 18 hens are mostly Red Rocks and many Leghorn combinations. Today it was minus 28C and I collected 12 eggs. The girls do not have a heated henhouse. In the summer time they give about 85% production daily. Someone, please tell me what I am missing by not feeding them the fancy laying mashes.

We raise natural and organic poultry products (please know that 'natural' and 'organic' can be two very different things... there are people who raise their poultry on "organic" vegetarian diets, which is not at all natural). Our flocks have been on this farm for about 10 years, so there is no escaping the coccidiosis if there is any. It is true that birds that are about 6-8 weeks old shouldn't need the coccidiostat any more. But, if you want to protect your chicks, it is a good idea. Not only baby chicks get coccidiosis, but also cows, dogs and a lot of other livestock get coccidiosis. If you're concerned about it, it is a good idea.

The "rules" for organic egg production allow a cocccidiostat for the baby chicks but not for hens that are in-lay. The rules even allow antibiotics for sick hens as long as you don't sell their eggs as organic within X weeks of having the medication.

Issues like these are at the discretion of the poultry keeper (you).

Well, it seems you have a choice to make here. AS a beginning fancier you will have many. There are valid points to above post, we dont routinely use medicated feeds for any of our classes of livestock, but i almost always run one batch of med. feed thru young animals that have been stressed by shipping, weaning, etc. As a general rule each class of livestock has its own mecicines. Be careful using meds from one species on another. It is often the practice but know what youre doing first.

Hi Mamahen, well, I've raised two batches of chicks. I thought I was using medicated feed and I wasn't, pays to read those labels. I tend to agree with Susie about letting the chicks build up immunities naturally. Human babies get natural "antibiotics" in mothers milk, shouldn't chicks get the same thing in their yolk? I'm just guessing on that one. I've read here (Susie's post I think) that birds raised on wire should be medicated.

I let my silkie raise both my hatches, and all the babies where exposed to her droppings. No sickness in any of my chicks, so so far so good.

Sounds like your going to do fine with your chicks, and we're always here to help.

We raise a lot of chicks. Our incubators run constantly.

Chicks are not born with much disease resistance. Most disease resistance comes with age. A 5 month old pullet is much more disease resistant than are baby chicks.

If you have never had any animals on your property, you may do well without any medications. Like Robb, we also don't medicate our flock routinely. But our babies from our breeding projects are too valuable to us to risk death from coccidiosis, which is extremely common. Coccidiosis is THE MOST COMMON cause of death in chicks, and easily preventable.

You and other neophytes will just have to make up you own minds about this. It is similar to vaccinating your children (which the school systems force you to do otherwise you keep your kids at home)... Any medication you feed a baby to help them survive is not going to be an issue at butcher time or egg laying time, which is always 4-6 months later.

Coccidiosis is a bacterial infection (protozoa) of the
digestive system.

In my opinion, it is a mistake to "let chicks build up immunity naturally" as Hannah said.There is no "builiding up of immunity" in baby chicks for coccidiosis. If they get it, you'll notice blood in the chick droppings and they'll die. Baby chicks simply will not develop immunity to coccidiosis. Older pullets and cockerels will, but the babies won't. This is a matter of person decision. It is your call.

There are natural immunitities that can occur. Most of them occur through breeding and selecting for genetic disease resistance. A bird that is not genetically disease resistant doesn't develop all that much "natural" disease resistance from exposure.

Ok, two points to make here:

One is, do NOT use another species' medication for this disease (coccidiosis) because the species that infects chickens is not the same one that infects other animals. Thus, other animals will not contract this disease by exposure to chickens.

Secondly, according to Gail Damerow in her book "A Guide To Raising Chickens",
"Gradual exposure to coccidia allows a chicken to develop immunity. In young birds that are not yet immune, illness or death occurs when poor sanitation exposes them to too many coccidia too rapidly. Chicks raised on wire and later moved to litter have had little exposure, and therefore have no immunity and can become seriously infected."

So if you go without medicated feed, it is important to keep their litter clean and dry. It's also very important to keep their feeders and waterers cleaned. That is what we did and as our young birds got a little older (4 weeks and up) we started waiting just a little longer in between litter cleanings so they had a gradual increase in exposure. They were eventually mixed with some older layers and put in an area that had birds previously but we felt they were gradually exposed and had some natural immunity, as Damerow indicates.

Every bird has this protozoa in their intestines. The eggs hatch out in their droppings and in a humid, hot enviroment they can multiply out of control. So how you deal with this one depends on many factors, including the conditions the birds are raised in. We opted for the natural immunity route since they will always be exposed to this protozoa and we definitely are against medicated feed at the layer stage.

I hope that explains a little better where I'm coming from and why, as well as where I got this info from.

Susie

Wow,
Thanks for all of your opinions on this topic. One more question, for a brooder pen I have a child size 5ft. plastic swimming pool with 12 inch high sides in a raised stall of a livestock barn. Above the pool, hanging 18inches I have a 250watt red electric light. In the pool, what litter should I use for my chicks? They are Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons. I know the pool floor is going to be way to slippery for the chicks. What litter works best and how often to I clean/change the litter for a gradual introduction to the coccidiosis? Of course I also have the chick feeders and waters in the pool. Am I forgetting anything??

Oh, no....the great litter debate! LOL!

We use a plastic pool for a brooder also. Works really well for 3-4 weeks.

What we do is start off the first week with old towels. Sounds kinda messy but basically I was able to take them outside and shake off the "mess" and then wash them. I had newspaper under the towels. Then we progressed to just newspaper with shredded paper on top of it. Eventually I mixed in a little straw (they love that and will usually start scratching in it!). I use pine shavings in the chicken house but have been warned that the little chicks will sometimes eat it rather than their feed so it's not a good idea for babies. But pine shavings is what they use in commercial operations around here and it's less dusty than straw so that's what I use with the grown chickens.

Main rule of thumb for little chicks is that their legs are weak at first and just newspaper is too slick and can lead to disabling leg problems. That's why we use towels for the first several days.

You can get a thermometer to check your brooder temp or just keep an eye on the chicks. They will tell you if it's too warm or too cool. Beyond that, it sounds like you have everything you need.

Have fun!
Susie

Put the thermometer directly under the heat source to check the temperature where the chicks will be. It ought to be 95 degrees or a little higher there, so the chicks can select the temperature that suits them best. Depending on drafts and the temperature of the room, they should settle down in a scattered ring around the heat. If they huddle or crowd under the heat, move it to a corner, or other area where drafts will be reduced. If you are using a heat bulb, watch for intense heat directly below the bulb. I like to use outdoor flood or spot bulbs because they are designed to take a little spash of water without breaking. These you would place closer to the chicks than a heat bulb.
As to your feed, that 28% protein starter will be intended for broiler chicks. I would start my Rocks and Orpingtons with about 22-24% protein starter. The grower feed will be about 18-20% protein, and a good layer ration will be 16% protein. Different feed stores will have other protein level options.
For litter, I usually start with newspapers, placing feed and grit on the papers and directly in front of the feeders. In a day or two everyone will be eating feed and grit, and know the taste. Then put feed only in the feeders and on the papers in front of the feeders. About the third or fourth day, put feed only in feeders. When the chicks are eating from the feeders, I begin to take papers away from outer edge of their area, exposing the wood shavings below. Over the course of a couple of days, remove all the papers, leaving only shavings. In this way we don't train the chicks to think that shavings are food. This has worked very well for us many times in the past. Hope this helps.