Best foods/treats to encourage bonding with new chicks?

[PinkLadyLVT]

What are your favorite foods/treats for very young chicks (several days old) to begin the bonding process? Currently they won’t eat from my hand yet but I know that will change with time.

This is my second chance at keeping chickens and I want these babies to be as sweet, social, and loving as my first 3 were. I loved them SO much, they were wonderful.

I have 3 Sapphire Gem girls and 1 unknown sex Bantam. They are super tiny still, especially the Bantam. So I need treat ideas that are enticing, healthy, and small enough for them to eat. TIA!

 

[NatJ]

What are your favorite foods/treats for very young chicks (several days old) to begin the bonding process? Currently they won’t eat from my hand yet but I know that will change with time.

I would try a small amount of wet chick starter (just their usual food plus a bit of water.)

The chicks will probably start by being scared (that goes for any new food), then when they try it they will have to wipe their beaks and think about the experience. But after they try it a few times, most chicks seem to really like it.

 

[GreenJay]

Scrambled eggs (no salt/pepper). Yeah, it seems so wrong but they love it.

 

[RoyalChick]

Mine always go nuts for a handful of their regular chick starter crumbles.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

chicks should only be fed chick starter for the first several weeks .. and chickens like almost anything .. mainly they respond to punctual repetition, and be sure to never scare them,, they remember that ..

Tell my broody hen that. Week 1 she has them digging in the dirt, chasing bugs and eating greens out of my garden. She 'lets' them eat chick starter when they go in to nest for the evening. The rest of the day, she ignores it.

She's on her 3rd brood. Her broodies are my healthiest birds.

I think mamma knows best.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I like dried mealworms since it's easy to break them into tinier pieces, but keep the amount minimal, maybe only 2 or 3 per chick a day.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

Tiny bits of fresh mozzarella cheese, little bits of fish, slivers of watermelon, sliced grapes and sliced Blueberries.

Just remember that treats should be in small amounts and at that age...tiny.

 

[mcdze]

chicks should only be fed chick starter for the first several weeks .. and chickens like almost anything .. mainly they respond to punctual repetition, and be sure to never scare them,, they remember that ..

 

[TaylorGlade]

ours love soldier fly larva - or watermelon.

 

[Insnesnakos]

Mine always go nuts for a handful of their regular chick starter crumbles.

They love to eat out of my hand, even if it's food they eat all the time