[Victorian Farmer]

Dosent look good give them medicates crubs or get vacinated stock .Its very bad damp conditions the mum could of passed it dawn she could be a carrier

[chrismahon]

Our chicks go onto a night and day regime after one week Marches Farmer. So they both have the same opportunity to eat. It is well known that ACS in chick crumb inhibits growth, but I agree that they seem to all end up the same size eventually.


We have also given rearer pellets with ACS by mistake Lord Flynn. We notice something was wrong when their poos went sludgy brown and smelly. The feed also had an extra maize content to fatten them. They rapidly developed a fat deposit on their eyelids. The labelling was in very small printing and also in French.

[Stereo]

I don't feed medicated crumb as I don't want to rear birds which constantly need fixing. It's now pretty much well known that the types of bacteria animals (and humans) are exposed to very early in life is crucially important in developing a strong immune system and avoiding allergies. No antibiotic can be perfectly targeted and must kill much more important stuff in the bird's gut when they should be developing good gut flora.

OK, if you have an issue then solve it, but I don't believe in using antibiotics or other drugs as a protective measure, any more than as a growth hormone. Perhaps some folk have cocci on their land and I am just lucky as we have only ever lost one chick out of many hundreds reared (excluding  hatching dramas) and he was suffocated we think by the other birds (probably my fault for having too many in the brooder). We have raised hundreds of chicks under broodies in the garden and never give them anything other than crumbs and then growers. We do prioritise fresh water and lots of clean bedding with DE and stuff.

We did also once buy a bag of growers from Cornwall Farmers (BOCM) I think and only noticed later that there is a meat withdrawal period after feeding it. To me, that's pretty awful.

We have given coxoid once to a Marans cockerel who was on deaths door and he's still with us today although I'm sure it affected his mind as he's often to be found upside down in a dust bath with both feet in the air, talking to himself.

[landroverroy]

If you don't want to feed medicated crumbs, another natural way to prevent cocci is to give some whole grain and grit to the chicks. The action of the grain being ground up in the gizzard also grinds up the cocci. For very small chicks you can give wild bird seed, which they love.
I am not recommending you feed them entirely on grain/seed. Just add some to their normal diet.