[Tony H]

At the mo i feed my chicks on chick crumbs what i wondered is layers mash as good for them ? layers has all the goodness for  adult chucks but is it the same for chicks 

[joyfull]

no you need to use chick crumb for the correct amount of protein etc. It is upto you if you buy medicated or not but I would advise that you get a bottle of baycox or coxoid in just incase they get coccidiosis. Medicated feed (should say ACS - anti coccidiosis on them) doesn't protect against all types of cocci. Also if your chicks do develop it you will need to feed them unmedicated feed with the treatment.

[Tony H]

Thaks joyfull for advice 

[Casey76]

Hi Tony, chick crumb is usually quite a lot heigher in protein tham layers (layers is usually 14-16%, and chick crumbs usually about 18-20% protein)  the other thing, is that layers has much more calcium added than cick crumbs (to make the egg shells), too much calcium in a chick can be bad, as it can make the bones too hard and more likely to break (the bones become so hard they become brittle).  someties too much of a good thing is bad

So... keep the chicks on chick crumb until about 6-8 weeks, then they should go onto growers, which is an intermediary between crumb and layers (it is usually pellets, but may be smaller than layers pellets; it is usually not medicated (but can be), and is slightly lower protein than crumb, but still more than layers...

Good luck with your little babies

[Tony H]

Thanks casey i will try to get medicated food when they change from chick crumbs to give them a healthy start 

[joyfull]

the medicated food is just to help prevent coccidiosis and as I said earlier doesn't always work. then if your chicks get coccidiosis they will need unmedicated foood and coxoid or baycox. I never feed mine on medicated (and I know Casey doesn't as over in France it is rare to buy medicated). If they start laying whilst on medicated you cannot eat the eggs.

[Tony H]

o so its best to start with a good quality chick crums then growers then layers pellets/mash  where do you get the the baytox or coxoid from ? better get some just in case 

[joyfull]

I get mine from my feed merchants but you can buy it from ebay. I have never had to use it (in fact have chucked several small bottles away as they have gone out of date) but it really is a must to keep in stock just in case. The only time I have seen a chick with it was with some fed on the medicated feed  . Only buy a small bottle 
Some growers is also known as rearers so don't worry if you can only find that,

[Tony H]

Thanks joyfull i have decided to go on a chicken keeping corse thers so much to lern and i dont want to loose chucks because i got it wrong that would be cruel, this site is great for advice but i want to learn the signes before it becomes a problem 

[joyfull]

years ago I went on a omlet course - quite good for a beginner but they don't teach you things like looking for mites/lice rearing chicks etc.
There are several good books available and really it would be a good idea to get a few. I have lots of books and refer to them as and when needed.
Here are a few that members on here have recommended:-
Haynes chicken manual,
Katie Thear:- starting with chickens
Katie Thear:- incubating and hatching chickens
Cara and John Harrison:- Backgarden chickens and other poultry.

Nobody knows everything and we are learning all the time - most of our knowledge comes from practical experience and reading up. You will get there so don't panic