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3 week old chicks?

post #1 of 4
4/11/12 at 7:12pm
Thread Starter 

The baby chicks have been eating the special chick food given to us by grandma, but when can they start eating other stuff like veggie scraps?

 

How long and how often should they play in their coop? Should we have the light on in there when they do?

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post #2 of 4
4/11/12 at 7:16pm

I started giving my babies broccoli at about 3 weeks. Make sure you have the grit for them to grind their food with.  I cut all the very tips of the broccoli off and they went nuts for it.  today they had fresh spinach leaves cut up in tiny pieces.  I also noticed when I put my chicks in a new environment I had to light it because the poor little things were afraid of the dark for the first two weeks.  Now they are sleeping in the dark like pros.  good luck

mom to three adult children,  Two australian cattle dogs, 6 chicks, grandma to two baby girls and two pit bulls.  what a troop!

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mom to three adult children,  Two australian cattle dogs, 6 chicks, grandma to two baby girls and two pit bulls.  what a troop!

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post #3 of 4
4/11/12 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 

yes ours are scared of the dark too, when we turn off the light the cry, its almost funny.

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post #4 of 4
4/12/12 at 1:18am
welcome-byc.gif You can start them on other treats as young as one or two weeks, things such as cooked egg or mashed cereal I've seen mentioned. Even a bit of grass is quite popular, although you have to be careful it's in small enough pieces for the chicks to eat. What I find the chickens love is if you hold a piece of lettuce in the brooder and let them pick at it while you're holding onto it - gone in seconds!

As for the light, yeah, keep the light on. They might get cold, and yes they are scared of the dark to begin with... lol.png By coop, do you mean outdoors coop? If so, they'll need a bit of heat outdoors, we didn't let our chickens outside for the day until they were a couple of weeks old and it got warmer.

If you don't give them heat outdoors, I've seen people recommend just twenty mins or half an hour playtime at most. Good luck!
Edited by Fierlin1182 - 4/12/12 at 1:20am
"I'm looking at nuclear power, not weapons - there's an 87% difference." ; )
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"I'm looking at nuclear power, not weapons - there's an 87% difference." ; )
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