Are they eating the dirt?

[ChickenChick46]

This is yard dirt. At the suggestion of some folks on here, in preparation for letting my little ones outside for some supervised play time before too much longer, I brought in some of the yard dirt from the are where their future coop is.

I feel like they might be eating it, instead of dust bathing in it. Is this safe for them? They seem to like it a lot, but I want to make sure this is safe.

Thank you!

 

[SamLockwood]

It's normal. It's how they "chew" their food without teeth: they'll ingest small amounts of dirt, ash, grit, or sand and as everything passes through their crop the "grit" helps grind their food up.

 

[SamLockwood]

It's also why you've got to be careful about what you leave out if you free-range chickens. If it's small enough they'll try to swallow it: chunks of plastic, styrofoam, small screws, even bits of broken glass.

 

[kattabelly]

This is yard dirt. At the suggestion of some folks on here, in preparation for letting my little ones outside for some supervised play time before too much longer, I brought in some of the yard dirt from the are where their future coop is.

I feel like they might be eating it, instead of dust bathing in it. Is this safe for them? They seem to like it a lot, but I want to make sure this is safe.

Thank you!

Totally fine (unless they're gorging themselves on so much dirt they don't have room for their feed, but that would be unusual)

It's good for their immune systems to start being exposed to small quantities of all the microorganisms etc in your soil now, before they go outside.

Depending on what your soil is like, you could add a small amount of chick grit for them to peck at if there aren't any suitable sized bits in it already.

 

[ChickenChick46]

It's normal. It's how they "chew" their food without teeth: they'll ingest small amounts of dirt, ash, grit, or sand and as everything passes through their crop the "grit" helps grind their food up.

Thank you! It makes me nervous putting anything new in their brooder. Even the dirt. I understand that it can boost their immunity, same reasoning as why I let my kids dig in the dirt to their hearts' content.

But then I worry, what if it's contaminated somehow with something that makes them sick? We don't use poisons of any sort in our yard or garden, so my worry is more about some illness wild birds might leave behind. But I tend to be a chronic worrier and overthinker.

 

[ChickenChick46]

It's also why you've got to be careful about what you leave out if you free-range chickens. If it's small enough they'll try to swallow it: chunks of plastic, styrofoam, small screws, even bits of broken glass.

Yeah I was really careful to break apart all the little clumps. Our native soil is a sand and red clay mix. not good for veggie growing, fun for chicks, apparently. In the process, I checked it over closely for foreign objects. I watched my neighbor's flock while she was on vacation last year, and one of her ducks found a metal cap, like off of a beer bottle, that had been mangled amd was all rusty. I chased that duck forever until I finally got her to drop the cap in exchange for a handful of scratch.

 

[ChickenChick46]

Totally fine (unless they're gorging themselves on so much dirt they don't have room for their feed, but that would be unusual)

It's good for their immune systems to start being exposed to small quantities of all the microorganisms etc in your soil now, before they go outside.

Depending on what your soil is like, you could add a small amount of chick grit for them to peck at if there aren't any suitable sized bits in it already.

I do have some grit ordered that is arriving today. I could easily mix a few tablespoons, or however much, into this if that's a good idea. Or place an additional container in their brooder with just the grit. This soil is a red clay and sand. It's pretty fine.

 

[kattabelly]

I do have some grit ordered that is arriving today. I could easily mix a few tablespoons, or however much, into this if that's a good idea. Or place an additional container in their brooder with just the grit. This soil is a red clay and sand. It's pretty fine.

I start chicks on grit early because I take them outside and start introducing small amounts of other foods at 2-3 days old. It's not so urgent if you won't be doing that.

I find it easier to chuck the grit into a load of soil for them to dust bath in, just because it's one less container taking up space and needing to be washed and ime they'll only end up eating the dust bath and kicking the grit out everywhere if you do offer them separately. Nothing wrong with doing that way if you prefer though.

For the size of dish in your photo I definitely wouldn't add more than a tablespoon of grit at once - otherwise you'll probably end up throwing it away because there's still grit left but the dust bath is full of poo and needs replacing.

 

[ChickenChick46]

I start chicks on grit early because I take them outside and start introducing small amounts of other foods at 2-3 days old. It's not so urgent if you won't be doing that.

I find it easier to chuck the grit into a load of soil for them to dust bath in, just because it's one less container taking up space and needing to be washed and ime they'll only end up eating the dust bath and kicking the grit out everywhere if you do offer them separately. Nothing wrong with doing that way if you prefer though.

For the size of dish in your photo I definitely wouldn't add more than a tablespoon of grit at once - otherwise you'll probably end up throwing it away because there's still grit left but the dust bath is full of poo and needs replacing.

Thank you so much! I'll do that. My daughters used to have zebra finches, and I remember how messy they were with their grit and how much was wasted.

I haven't given them anything but unmedicated chick starter thus far. I do want to start taking them outside soon, just to get them used to the sights and sounds that they'll experience when they move to their coop.

I think they're maybe between 1 1/2 and 2 weeks old? I got them on Saturday from the TSC bantam bin. They're my first chicks, so I'm not really great at guessing their actual age.

That said, our weather here is currently 95+ highs and 75 to 78 lows, so I'm guessing they'd be plenty warm outside for a little bit.

 

[kattabelly]

Thank you so much! I'll do that. My daughters used to have zebra finches, and I remember how messy they were with their grit and how much was wasted.

I haven't given them anything but unmedicated chick starter thus far. I do want to start taking them outside soon, just to get them used to the sights and sounds that they'll experience when they move to their coop.

I think they're maybe between 1 1/2 and 2 weeks old? I got them on Saturday from the TSC bantam bin. They're my first chicks, so I'm not really great at guessing their actual age.

That said, our weather here is currently 95+ highs and 75 to 78 lows, so I'm guessing they'd be plenty warm outside for a little bit.

I have no experience with bantams but I imagine they'll be absolutely fine for a while at those temps, so long as it's dry and they have shelter from any wind. My standards are rarely lucky enough to get weather as warm as 75F! They'll huddle together and peep loudly if they're cold.