Bug Race-digestive question

[cajunflock]

My little week old chicks ( I think) had some small vistors last night get into their brooder. Some little bugs of the night. I heard the chicks making a lot of noise so I went investigate and one chick would have the bug in its mouth and the rest were chasing it. I know chickens eat bugs and such but do I need to provide anything for their digestive process since they ate the entertainment? First batch of chicks and want to do this right. Thanks in advance

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’d provide grit. Well, I always provide it anyway. Since they don’t have teeth they use small bits of rock to grind their food up in their gizzard. I don’t know what kind of bugs those were but they are probably OK without grit, but it’s a good precaution.

You can provide grit a lot of different ways. Most feed stores carry “Chick Grit”. That’s small pieces of granite waste from granite quarries sorted and sold for that purpose. At their age make sure it is chick grit and not regular grit. The regular grit is too big for those chicks.

You can collect coarse sand from a stream or riverbed. That works great. You don’t want the real fine sugar sand but the stuff with larger particles. If it is an ocean beach you need to rinse it to get rid of most of the salt. Too much salt is bad for them. Or you can buy a coarse sand, like construction sand. Play sand is too fine. It just passes on through their system.

You can collect dirt from your yard and feed that to them. They will love the dirt itself as a treat and will find grit sized grains in it. Some people cut chinks of sod from their yard, grass, roots and all, and put that in the brooder. They’ll love tearing it apart and eating it. Or scrape up some small gravel from a gravel road or driveway.

Or take them out on grass or dirt and let them peck around for a while. They will find their own grit. It’s instinctive.

 

[cajunflock]

Thanks for the info. I might built them a little play area in the yard were the chicks can find some dirst and grass. Didnt know I could do that. Thanks for all the options. Helps.

 

[cajunflock]

Ridgerunner

Do I mix the grit with their feed? Can I supply grit and sod? Are should I stick with one option?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I keep it separate from the feed but it doesn't matter that much with grit. When they reach laying age definitely keep oyster shell separate but with grit it's not that important. The hard question to answer is how much to feed them. There is no specific answer that I am aware of to that. It depends some on what you are using. The harder it is and the larger the pieces the longer it stays in their gizzard. Some granite grit might last three weeks but most others will last a lot less. I know that doesn't help much. If you need a number, think between a teaspoon and a tablespoon per chick a couple of times a week. More won't hurt. If a broody hen were raising them, about the first thing she does is take them where they can peck at the ground. They not only get nutrients from this they get grit. This might be on grass, it might be on sand or just dirt.

There is no reason to stick with any one option. You can mix and match as you wish. There are no hard and fast rules with this. Just be flexible.