What can you feed a baby chick?

[RM44]

My baby chicks are 2 weeks old and all I've given them is medicated starter food. Can I give them greens yet? Or fruits? Bread? I realize these would be "treats", and I would continue to feed their starter crumbles as the staple food, but can I give them other things now? If not, how old do they have to be before feeding greens, veggies, etc.?

 

[DonnaBelle]

Scrambled eggs cut up very fine. Lots of protein, they love it.

 

[hinkjc]

If you give treats, you will also want to give some chick grit to help them process it. I do not recommend anything veggie yet, but oatmeal, hard boiled egg and a little yogurt are good (and healthy) treats for youngsters.

 

[azygous]

Babies are so much fun! I raised a bunch of Silver-laced Wyandottes from two days old this past spring. I would put a single lettuce leaf in there to amuse them. Or a few blades of grass. They didn't eat much of it, but I read that green placed in with them keeps them focused and discourages pecking. I also placed a small container of fine sand in there, and was amazed at how much they consumed. A slice of melon, or pear or grapes cut in half will also keep them amused as well as get them used to diversity. Always in tiny amounts, though.

I had them in an appliance cardboard box in the spare bedroom. I used peat moss for bedding, and while the chicks loved it, even dirt bathed from two weeks on, the dust got in everything. It was great, though for odor control, being so absorbent. But next time I'll use pine shavings even though they sure did enjoy their little baby dirt baths!

 

[teach1rusl]

I couldn't find chick grit, so just bought parakeet grit from a pet store for my chicks. I sprinkled it like salt on their feed when I started giving treats. They will go nuts over egg, scrambled or hard boiled and chopped up. Mine are about 16 weeks now, and still don't care much for yogurt, but yours may think they hit the mother lode....lol. Have fun w/your babies!

 

[Akane]

Parakeet grit has added calcium which is harmful to chicks. I generally use sand for the chicks. What you can and can't feed them is a matter of opinion. Chicks raised by hens will start eating everything including greens right away so some people will feed anything and everything as soon as the chicks start eating. Some will only feed them chick starter until they go out with the other chickens. I've been waiting to feed other things because it's not worth the effort and none of mine have wanted to eat soft things like yogurt. I did have one batch that at about 2weeks old would not stop feather picking until I tried giving them some vegetation. They were too busy dragging edible flowers around and pecking at small vegetables and herbs. It's the only bad group of feather pickers I've had and it seems to have all been from boredom.

 

[LisaFoster]

I fed my four week old chicks some freshly dug red worms, just a few, they went crazy over them. It was so funny. They would just grab one and start running around like crazy. I don't think they really knew what to do with it at first. They just knew it was something they needed to grab and run with. I laughed so hard, they are so much fun.

 

[ccollins32]

How old do they have to be to feed scrambled eggs? Mine are 3 days old

 

[peep peep peep]

You can feed a chick scrambled eggs, wet chick food ,dry chick food, and after a while bread.

 

[logansgranny]

Would playground sand be fine enough? We adopted our first chicks ever, today. They are two weeks old. I have do much to learn.,,