Baby Chick Feeding Question

[Barry Natchitoches]

I have baby chicks coming.


I have plenty, plenty, plenty of extra eggs around here, and would like to feed the baby chicks boiled, mashed egg.


Do I need to salt that boiled egg with a bit of grit?


If so, what kind of grit do I need to get them?


Can chicks just home from the post office be given boiled, carefully mashed egg, or do they need to be a bit older before they get egg?


I do plan on giving them chicken starter crumbles too. Its just that I would like to supplement their diet with boiled egg. Seems to me boiled egg would be the perfect food for a little chick -- after all, under different circumstances, that boiled egg could have BEEN a baby chick itself...

 

[Break an Egg]

Boiled egg is a great food for them. You can also give them plain yogurt. I don't think they need grit with the egg, and I'm not sure with the yogurt, but I haven't had any trouble.

 

[Indianfeathers]

I gave my baby chicks a dish of parakeet grit to help with digestion, but my chicks also had chick starter feed and when they were 3 weeks old i put them in a pen in the grass carefully watched and they enjoyed eating the grass.

 

[Indianfeathers]

i also forgot..............they also enjoyed eating worms, actually fought over them!

 

[Tiffany from Nutrena]

You shouldn't need grit with either a very well mashed boiled egg or with yogurt. Grit helps grind food particles (like grains, seeds, fiborous grasses, etc) into smaller pieces to be digested - eggs and yogurt are soft enough that they should have no problems.

 

[thixen]

I never gave mine grit until they where old enough to be taken off of mash and put on crumbles or pellets and then I gave them the normal granite grit from the feed store (because that was the only one I could find with out oyster shellIf they are on a balanced feed they don't need the extra calcium) I just put a little in a sandwich bag and hit it with a hammer until my wife complained about the noise (usually after the 2nd hit). Beyond that they figure out what they can swallow and what they can't.

As it was said here that the egg and yogart should be soft enough for them to eat with out grit, but I would be carefull to smash the egg up until it doesn't look like an egg anymore. If you don't and you continue to do this when they get older it could (not saying that it will, but it could) led to egg eating.

 

[DancingHen]

I feed my chicks mashed boiled egg, but I am careful not to mash the shell in like I do for my hens. Extra calcium can be very bad for chicks while they are developing. If they have the chick starter available that provides the calcium they need. The boiled eggs are definately a hit with the chicks

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