babies wont eat TREATS!!!!

[Hwlchickmama]

i took my 3 week old peepers out in the lawn yesterday. they stood still and peeped and looked up at me like "help me!" once i ignored them for a while they toddled around and did NOT seem happy. i pulled sum grass up and tried to give it to them and they woun't even play with it. When i brought them back into the house i gave them some fresh green beans, peas and a strwberry from my garden, they pushed it all around and never ate it!!! is it a bad thing that all they want to eat is the feed or should i try and push more fresh foods?!?!?! i see soooooooo many posts of peeps liking yogart veggies and fruits but mine DONT!!!!! what should i do!??!?!?

 

[tigercreek]

I would not worry about fresh foods yet. Give them a few weeks and time to play in the dirt and pick up a few rocks to help in digesting that stuff. In the mean time, try a mixture of equal parts of plain yougert, boileg egg yolk and their regular chick starter. After just a few pecks, they will be going nuts scarffing that stuff down. No chick can resist egg yolk, and the yougert is beneficial to their gut. ....stan

 

[joneus]

My 4wk olds dont really like many treats, either. I've had minor success with meal worms, but yogurt was a complete and utter failure. So far the only thing they get worked up over is smoked turkey (from my sandwich one day) and the yucky brown bits left over from steamed clams.

As for the grass: the first time I put my guys in the grass they pecked at it a bit, then stared at me like I'd done something horrible to them. Dont worry- they'll get over it.

 

[sandysylvester]

They are too young to understand the "treat" aspect from my experience so far. Give them some time to grow yet. My girls just discovered watermelon at 8-9 weeks of age and it took me putting the greens over it before they gave it a taste, otherwise they looked at it as if it were the plague.

 

[ajay]

Mine are 5 weeks and don't do treats either. I've offered them oatmeal, watermelon, apples, plums, bread, yogurt...the list goes on and on. They just have zero interest in it. But, they are growing and eating their feed and enjoy pecking around in the grass and dirt. I figure eventually when they get bigger, they will realize that there are some really good things out there!

 

[earnhardtlvr]

Our chicks weren't really sure about treats at first either...but we would sprinkle their crumbles over or in with the treat and as they ate the crumbles and then tasted the treat they went nuts!!!!

 

[cmom]

My chicks aren't into getting treats either. As they get older and get put over by the older birds and when we give the older birds their treats then they get more interested like they are missing out on something.

 

[misterkrista]

Ours only liked oatmeal at that age, and then raisins (which we cut or tore into pieces at first). Oh, and egg yolk. We had one sick/failure to thrive chick who only got excited about egg yolk, and eventually worms.

Now with each new treat we offer them they are a bit scared of them at first. Eventually one of them goes for it and then they all go crazy. It is pretty funny.

 

[sassypants'mama]

My older girls (1yr) wouldn't eat any treats for a long time. With my newest set (11wks), they began eating the same things the older girls did - that is once mama would let the chicks. She was pretty strict with the babies until the last couple of weeks. Now, she doesn't have much to do with them. They sleep inside a nesting box, mama on top that box and the rest of the girls on the roost. It has been interesting to watch them all grow in this process.

 

[LaurasLorps]

My chicks didn't start liking treats until about 5 weeks, and now, it 9 weeks, it is still trial and error with what they like. They've never liked yogurt or eggs, no matter how many times I've introduced it.

I noticed that my chicks didn't seemed to like wet things, so I started trying some dry treats like oatmeal and popcorn (popped with no salt or oil). That got them used to the idea of treats. I've also found when giving fruits or veggies, they are a lot more likely to eat it if I cut it into really small pieces (especially when they were younger). They seemed less intimidated to try it if they could eat it in one bite.
Good Luck!