Another "Just wondering" question.

[Sylviaanne]

I'm fixing easy spaghetti tonight. Boil the noodles and add jar sauce.

Could I feed noodles to the chicks? Should I?

I thought they might think they were worms but don't want to give them anything that might harm them. Ages 2-3 days and 2 weeks.

 

[Monguire]

I'd err on the side of caution and hold off on that kinda stuff until they are a little older. IMHO, too likely that a too-soft noddle might gum up their beak or a too-hard noodle might get stuck in their crop. If you are feeding them ANYthing besides chick starter, always provide some sort of grit...be it bagged pre-fab or sand or free-ranging time to collect their own.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Sylviaanne]

I'd err on the side of caution and hold off on that kinda stuff until they are a little older. IMHO, too likely that a too-soft noddle might gum up their beak or a too-hard noodle might get stuck in their crop. If you are feeding them ANYthing besides chick starter, always provide some sort of grit...be it bagged pre-fab or sand or free-ranging time to collect their own.

Just my 2 cents.

Nope, just chick starter. I used all the noodles anyways. LOL Thanks for your 2 cents. Sylvia

 

[YardBirdMom]

Sylvi, I can tell you what I did with mine at about a week old I would go gather small pieces of grass, clover tops especially and dandelion flowers, and give them a handful of it about every other day. When they were about 10 days old I started hand feeding them meal worms and lord did they love those! Mine will still eat out of my hand although it can be a bit painful when one grabs my skin wrong lol

What kind of chickies did you get?

 

[Sylviaanne]

Sylvi, I can tell you what I did with mine at about a week old

I would go gather small pieces of grass, clover tops especially and dandelion flowers, and give them a handful of it about every other day. When they were about 10 days old I started hand feeding them meal worms and lord did they love those! Mine will still eat out of my hand although it can be a bit painful when one grabs my skin wrong lol

What kind of chickies did you get?

These are from my chickens, they are mixes. Most of my chickens are in this thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/899479/what-breed-are-my-chickens

All of my adults came from feed stores. Alan at Heartland is where I prefer to buy from but there are always so many people around him that it is difficult to hear what he is saying and I never wrote down what breeds he said they were. I have 3 Cornish cross hens that I got from Orshelin, might have spelled that wrong and I have one red hen that I got from a little store called The Mule. I have raised all but the red hen from babies but this year I have had good hatches from my incubators. I bought 6 babies from Alan this year and 2 that were supposed to be Cornish cross from Orshelin, at that time I had 22 hatch from the incubator from my chickens and 4 ducklings from my ducks. I have had several hatch since then but I need a more efficient way to keep records because I had 20 counted eggs for the first hatch but some how came up with 24 babies. LOL
This is my last hatch, started on the 21st to the 23rd.
1. This little yellow chick has a black spot on it's butt.

2. This little guy is a black with silver/grey wings and the back of his head, this is him below on the table too.

2.

3. This little one, as you can see is blond on the sides and brown on it's back. The pictures make it look darker than it is. I didn't realize it had feathery feet and an extra toe until I was taking these pictures. Below is a picture of one of it's legs and toes.

3.

4. 4. This little chick is silver and grey with dark legs. The picture below makes it look darker than it is.

4.

5. 5. This little chick is more of a reddish color.

 

[Sylviaanne]

These chicks were born around the 12th, they started pipping on the 10th and last one hatched the 15th.
#1 is the darkest brown/yellow chick of the 8. it has 5 toes and very little feathering on it's legs.
1. 1. 1. 1.

#2 is the medium shades of the brown/yellow chicks. More reddish than the one above.
2. 2. 2.

#3 is the most reddish of these 3.
3. 3.

#4 This is the darkest of the "black" babies, can you see the white at the corner of his eyes? He has a white spot on both wings in the same spot.
4. 4. 4. 4.
4.

#5 is lighter than number 4 but not as much as this first pic makes him look. His little Mohawk means he is half Crested Polish.
5. 5. 5. He has some lighter grey in his tail featheres.

#6 is the lightest of these 3. Much more of grey than the one above.
6. 6. 6.

#7 is a lot more grey/yellow than it looks like. These first 2 pictures are of number 7 but I'm not sure when the pictures of # 8 began. There may have been only 2 pictures of #7, it was a pretty cooperative bird. #8 was not.
7. 7.

I am trying to show pictures of the head puff on one of them in the next 4 pictures.


I'm pretty sure this is the tail feathers of #8.


#8 has a black spot but it's not on it's body like I thought, it's on the wing. It also has dark legs, green I think but hard to tell.
8. 8.

All of the other babies are out in the coop right now.

 

[YardBirdMom]

Awe, Silvi, they are all adorable!! Love the little crest on the one! I think I'd have fun cross-breeding just to see what they'd look like

 

[Sylviaanne]

Awe, Silvi, they are all adorable!! Love the little crest on the one! I think I'd have fun cross-breeding just to see what they'd look like

Thank you. This is my 3rd batch from my Crested Polish. I can't wait to see what their little mohawks look like when they get grown up. LOL

 

[YardBirdMom]

Thank you. This is my 3rd batch from my Crested Polish. I can't wait to see what their little mohawks look like when they get grown up. LOL

I definitely think that's half the fun AND a motivator to cross-breed

I know I'll want some pure breds for sure, but I can also see crossing my Buff's with my Brahmas and seeing what comes of them!

Both are good layers, broody mothers, large brown egg layers, and BIG. Surely a cross between them would be interesting!