7 week old chicks and outdoor grass.

[NightsInWhiteSilkies]

The silkies are 7 weeks old now.
I wanted to put a peice of outdoor clump of grass in their broader area.
Will this be safe to do or should I wait a bit longer?
Theyre on medicated chick feed.
My concern is them getting cocci.

 

[champer]

My chicks are 2.5 wks old and I've been giving them clumps of grass and dirt this past week. They have a ball with it and seem in good health. I've had broody raised chicks and the mama would have the chicks out foraging after the first week, so giving them some dirt isn't really any different in my opinion. Best wishes whatever you decide!

 

[NightsInWhiteSilkies]

I dug up a nice foot chunck of grass and it has about a half foot of dirt at the bottom of it.
I wanted to give them something to entertain themselves plus the grass is good for them. Tons of grass in my area!
I put it in this morning. They at first hid from it but just checked on it and their sitting on it scratching it,pecking it and luving it!
lol...
I figured it would be okay but just wanted to check just to make sure. Thankyou for your reply!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I purposely give them dirt from the run about Day 3 in the brooder. To me, this has several advantages. They get grit to help set their system up the way it is supposed to work. I know they don't need grit if the feed is all they are eat, but I like them to be ready if a hard shelled bug crawls into the brooder or they eat some bedding material.

They get probiotics from the adult chickens. There are a lot of examples of this in the animal kingdom. For example, a baby elephant will eat some of its mother's poop when it starts switching from mother's milk to vegetative stuff in its diet so it has the right bugs in its intestines to digest what it's eating.

Another reason I feed them dirt from the run is to get the protozoa that causes Coccidiosis into their system at a very young age when they are best able to develop an immunity to it. I don't feed medicated feed but just keep the brooder pretty dry so the risk form Cocci is really reduced. I still closely watch them for possible Cocci problems, but I've never seen any, either in the brooder or when they hit the ground.

 

[gritsar]

I purposely give them dirt from the run about Day 3 in the brooder. To me, this has several advantages. They get grit to help set their system up the way it is supposed to work. I know they don't need grit if the feed is all they are eat, but I like them to be ready if a hard shelled bug crawls into the brooder or they eat some bedding material.
They get probiotics from the adult chickens. There are a lot of examples of this in the animal kingdom. For example, a baby elephant will eat some of its mother's poop when it starts switching from mother's milk to vegetative stuff in its diet so it has the right bugs in its intestines to digest what it's eating.
Another reason I feed them dirt from the run is to get the protozoa that causes Coccidiosis into their system at a very young age when they are best able to develop an immunity to it. I don't feed medicated feed but just keep the brooder pretty dry so the risk form Cocci is really reduced. I still closely watch them for possible Cocci problems, but I've never seen any, either in the brooder or when they hit the ground.

Weather permitting, I have chicks outside, on the grass, at around 2 weeks of age; for all the reasons Ridge mentioned. Mama Hen would have them out earlier than that.
I've only ever brooded two chicks in the house - a silkie X and her hatchmate, a bantam cochin X They were outside every day from about 10 days old and moved to their own coop @ 5 1/2 weeks old.

 

[lbartsch]

I had my chicks outside in the grass (and brought grass in to them) at 4 weeks old. They loved it and had no problems. They were on non-medicated feed too.