Switching Chick feed

Hello All! I just got 4 chicks from TSC. I purchased the Purina Start and Grow Non Medicated chick starter feed. They are now 4 weeks. Running low on the feed and thinking about buying the Manna Pro Starter Grower. Would it be okay to switch? Also should I get medicated?? Please advise. Thank you!

vidyaalfaro said:

Hello All! I just got 4 chicks from TSC. I purchased the Purina Start and Grow Non Medicated chick starter feed. They are now 4 weeks. Running low on the feed and thinking about buying the Manna Pro Starter Grower. Would it be okay to switch? Also should I get medicated??

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Switching brands will be fine.
If they have been doing fine on non-medicated feed, I would continue to use non-medicated feed.

The medication is probably amprolium, which provides some amount of protection from coccidiosis. If your chicks actually DO have trouble with coccidiosis, you can just buy the amprolium separately to treat the chicks (Corid is one brand.)

Agree with Nat, they do fine (digestively) with feed changes, probably because the formulations are so similar. They do develop taste preferences so you should monitor uptake at first.
I was feeding the Flock Party feed until Wednesday when my TSC had run out, so I had to wait for it to come in on Friday. In the interim we gave them Nutrena starter. They all acted like kids served broccoli, eating just enough.
When I got home with their Flock Party yesterday there was such a run on the food you would think they had been starved. The bag says there's BSFL in the mix and I'm guessing the bugs are what make it so yummy.

SourRoses said:

Agree with Nat, they do fine (digestively) with feed changes, probably because the formulations are so similar. They do develop taste preferences so you should monitor uptake at first.
I was feeding the Flock Party feed until Wednesday when my TSC had run out, so I had to wait for it to come in on Friday. In the interim we gave them Nutrena starter. They all acted like kids served broccoli, eating just enough.
When I got home with their Flock Party yesterday there was such a run on the food you would think they had been starved. The bag says there's BSFL in the mix and I'm guessing the bugs are what make it so yummy.

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Um, Flock Party is a treat--not a complete feed. At least from what is available to me. I'd be interested in seeing what you get.

The complete feeds are fine, but chickens do hate change. Never run out of the feed! Buy something before your feed bag is empty, so you can mix the new with the old.
Pay attention to the mill date on each bag, because some vitamins age in the feed after it's made. I want the feed to be used within two months of it's mill date, and will buy something similar if my first choice is too old.
I've seen feed that's over one year of age, awful! And the store employees will be happy selling feed that's six months old, not for me though.Mary

BrooksHatlen said:

Um, Flock Party is a treat--not a complete feed. At least from what is available to me. I'd be interested in seeing what you get.

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Flock Party is a brand. That brand certainly does include a lot of treats, but it apparently has complete feeds as well:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/flock-party-rising-chick-crumbles-10-lb-1030583#
Here is a Flock Party brand chick starter, at Tractor Supply.
It claims to be a complete feed, and the nutritional facts support that claim (they are in the same range as other chick starter and all-flock feeds).

NatJ said:

Flock Party is a brand. That brand certainly does include a lot of treats, but it apparently has complete feeds as well:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/flock-party-rising-chick-crumbles-10-lb-1030583#
Here is a Flock Party brand chick starter, at Tractor Supply.
It claims to be a complete feed, and the nutritional facts support that claim (they are in the same range as other chick starter and all-flock feeds).

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Weird, I had filtered for brand and only the treat ones came up. Your link shows it as in my local store tho.

BrooksHatlen said:

Weird, I had filtered for brand and only the treat ones came up. Your link shows it as in my local store tho.

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I'm in a different state from you, and it's showing in stock at my store too.

I have no idea why it didn't show up when you filtered for brand. I got there from a google search ("flock party chicken feed.")

NatJ said:

I'm in a different state from you, and it's showing in stock at my store too.

I have no idea why it didn't show up when you filtered for brand. I got there from a google search ("flock party chicken feed.")

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Google does seem to do better than most site searches.

BrooksHatlen said:

Weird, I had filtered for brand and only the treat ones came up. Your link shows it as in my local store tho.

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No worries It's totally understandable because when you're in the store there's a shelf covered in a gazillion variations of their treats, lol.
I should have been more specific and called it starter.
They also have Flock Party layer and Scratch, I did try a small bag of the layer on our adults and they seemed to really like it but no way would I keep paying extra when the protein was still only 16%. On the Starter though, the protein is an improvement over the other brands at 22%. I know it might not make much difference but we're raising rare chicks this time so I've been a bit fussy, lol.
I've never tried treats with chicks because I'm always worried they'll develop crop issues or some other strange thing I won't be prepared to fix.