Last year, our kids incubated a couple of chicken eggs as part of their hybrid homeschooling program. The incubator, brooder, heat lamp and feed were all provided by the farmer who sponsored the project and hosted the participating families.
Once the eggs hatched and the chicks were a couple of weeks old, they were ready to be brought home. We agreed to adopt a laying hen (Raven) and a rooster (Henry) and integrate them with our existing flock.
When the day came to bring them home, I noticed a bag of leftover starter feed from Purina the chicks were fed and I picked it up to check out the ingredients.
The first thing that caught my attention was that it said MEDICATED in big letters on the front of the bag. Since feed quality is one of the first decisions we think through when preparing for new chicks, I obviously wasn’t thrilled about that.
Holding a bag of medicated feed triggered me to write this article, in the hope of creating awareness about why using medicated feed in a homesteading or backyard environment is likely not a great idea.
Medicated feed is often sold as a kind of safety net or a way to “protect” young chicks from disease. But once you understand what those products actually contain, how immunity develops, and what the long-term consequences really are, you’ll likely realize that using medicated feed is a poor fit for most homesteaders.
On the Kummer Homestead, we never use medicated feed or vaccinations, and we raise healthy, robust birds every year.
What Is Medicated Starter Feed?
Medicated starter feed contains a drug called amprolium. Amprolium is a coccidiostat that doesn’t cure disease, but it suppresses coccidia, a protozoan parasite that can cause digestive issues (coccidiosis) in young birds.
Coccidia are microscopic protozoa in the genus Eimeria that live in soil, litter and feces. They’re almost everywhere chickens are raised. In low amounts they don’t cause disease, but if a young bird is exposed to a large volume all at once, it can develop diarrhea and lead to weight loss and even death.
Amprolium works by blocking thiamine (Vitamin B1) uptake in the parasite, which slows its reproduction. It’s not an antibiotic, and it doesn’t “boost” immunity directly. Instead, it just keeps parasite numbers down so disease outbreaks are less likely.
What Medicated Feed Is Supposed to Do
The idea behind medicated starter feed is fairly simple: young chicks have immature immune systems and coccidia are everywhere. If you suppress the parasite early, you also reduce early disease risk. In high-density commercial operations, where bedding stays wet and birds are stressed and crowding together, medicated feed can reduce the worst of coccidiosis outbreaks.
In other words, medicated feed can act as a tool designed to offset the unavoidable disease pressure created by high-density poultry production systems.
But our goal as homesteaders isn’t to mimic what’s happening in commercial poultry operations – it’s quite the opposite, I would argue.
In other words, our goal should be to provide our chickens with the best possible living conditions and to help train the birds’ immune system instead of simply suppressing parasites and calling it a day.
How Chickens Actually Build Immunity
Research into host immune responses to coccidiosis shows that protective immunity in chickens is complex, involving both innate and adaptive responses from the gut and immune system (which is no different than how immunity works in humans).
When a bird encounters low levels of Eimeria oocysts (the infectious stage of the parasite) in its environment, its immune system gradually develops defenses, including specialized white blood cells and antibodies that reduce the severity of future infections.
In fact, unless a chick’s immune system is seriously compromised by stress or disease, early exposure to low levels of coccidia will typically lead to natural immunity without treatment.
In an appropriate environment with dry and clean bedding, proper airflow and consistent warmth, parasite load is low enough to facilitate immune training without overloading the immature immune system of growing chicks.
What’s important to understand is that immune training requires exposure. Suppression isn’t training. How that exposure looks in practice depends heavily on whether birds are raised on pasture, deep litter, or a combination of the two.
The Problems With Medicated Feed
Medicated starter feed is designed to keep parasite levels low, but in doing so it can delay the development of natural immunity by reducing early antigen exposure (the immune system’s natural ‘practice’ with low-level pathogens) – especially in environments where parasite load is naturally low.
Of course, the parasite load in commercial poultry operations is likely significantly higher (and maybe too high for chicks to handle) but I’d argue that the solution to that is to improve the chickens living conditions instead of medicating them.
Here are three reasons why using medicated starter feed in a homesteading environment can backfire:
1. It Can Delay Immune Adaptation
By keeping parasite numbers unnaturally low, medicated feed reduces disease now but may also reduce the antigenic exposure chicks need to develop a robust adaptive immune response. The immune system learns through exposure; suppressing that exposure delays learning.
It should go without saying that birds with a weak immune system due to poor adaptation to naturally occurring pathogens are less resilient and more susceptible to disease pressure as they age.
2. It Doesn’t Stop Coccidia in the Environment
Amprolium in feed doesn’t eliminate coccidia oocysts in litter or soil. Birds still encounter them as they scratch and peck. Medicated feed only slows the parasite’s life cycle inside the bird, not in the barn, run or pasture.
3. It Can Contribute to False Security
Relying on medicated feed can mask underlying management issues (e.g., wet bedding, poor ventilation, crowding, or inadequate sanitation) that actually drive disease outbreaks.
Why Non-Medicated Feed Makes Sense on a Homestead
Non-medicated starter gives you a clean nutritional foundation without drugs, which is why we treat feed choice as part of our overall system design rather than as a standalone decision.
On our homestead we prioritize the following…
Better Nutrition With Fewer Toxins
We feed organic, corn/soy-free starter feed from New Country Organics to reduce pesticide exposure and support natural growth. Corn and soy are among the most heavily sprayed crops, and reducing potential exposure to pesticide residues during a sensitive developmental period is critical for long-term health.
Holistic nutrition supports gut function and immune development without chemical interference.
Natural Immune Training
When birds are exposed to their natural environment — which includes soil, microbes, sunlight and occasional parasites — their immune system learns what “real life” looks like early and builds lasting defenses.
This mirrors the way hens historically raised broods with natural exposure, and research supports the idea that immune responses develop with repeated, controlled antigen exposure.
Stress Reduction Through Environment
We bring chicks home when temperatures are consistently above 50° F, which keeps stress down right from day one (stress is one of the most potent immune modulators in chickens and humans alike).
We also expose them to natural sunlight whenever possible, which supports Vitamin D synthesis and promotes healthy immune signaling — something indoor, artificial light brooders can’t replicate.
Supportive Water & Microbiota
We give Justin Rhodes-style “Magic Water,” which we also outline as part of our basic chick setup. In a nutshell, it’s filtered or well water mixed with apple cider vinegar, raw honey from our bees, and organic garlic. It helps hydration, digestion, and microbial balance in the gut during critical growth windows. We don’t view it as medicine, just a mild, supportive input.
Are There Any Downsides to Non-Medicated Feed?
Non-medicated feed doesn’t create problems by itself, but it does require good management including dry bedding, fresh air and adequate space to reduce stress.
I also recommend regularly observing your chicks so you can respond at the first sign of things going sideways. Lethargy or a lack of appetite are usually clear signs of struggling birds that might benefit from some extra egg yolk or Magic Water.
However, non-medicated feed isn’t a shortcut. It’s a foundation that lets the bird engage with its environment and build immune strength the way nature intended.
Our Homestead Experience
We’ve never used medicated feed or vaccinations, and yet our first chicks every year grow into hardy, stress-adapted layers and meat birds. Of course, we do deal with the occasional casualty but we consider that nature doing its job by weeding out the weakest and allowing the strongest to survive and proliferate.
We focus on timing, nutrition quality, environmental management, and intentional early exposure. The result? A flock that doesn’t just survive but thrives without constant pharmaceutical inputs.
Medicated feed has its place in some high-pressure, high-density systems, but on a homestead looking for resilience over reliance, non-medicated starter feed paired with good care is a more solid foundation.
Michael Kummer is a healthy living enthusiast, the founder of MK Supplements and the host of the Primal Shift podcast. His goal is to help people achieve optimal health by bridging the gap between ancestral living and the demands of modern society. He runs the Kummer Homestead with his wife Kathy and their two children.
