Can somebody tell me if I am doing this right?

[tuxandting]

I am very confused and I have tried searching for answers but I just find myself more confused.
I have 25 chicks...10 Tetra Tint pullets, 1 Tetra Tint cockerel, 5 Barred Rocks, 4 Araucanas, 5 RIRs.
They are all between 10-12 weeks of age. They live in a coop with access to a covered chicken run.
We feed them chick feed and they have access to that and water at all times.

What else should I be doing? What is the deal with grit? Do they need it or not? We put some in a separate feeder but I cannot tell if they are eating it or not. Should it be mixed in with the feed? And is it really necessary? This part is very confusing.

We give them dried meal worms for treats, and the occasional lettuce or banana, but they are just starting to show interest in treats.

Also, while some of them sleep on the roost we built, some of them sleep in the nesting boxes and poop in them. Is this a good idea or not? I clean out the poop, but I didn't think it seemed like a good idea for them to sleep where they will lay. I am not expecting them to lay until later this summer or fall, but I didn't know if I should block off the nesting boxes until they are ready to lay.

Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

 

[gamebirdsonly]

I would block off the nesting boxes until they get closer to laying. I have never given grit so can't help you with that.

 

[Tuhmu]

Are your roosts higher than your nest boxes? If not, I would somehow adjust those and block off the nest boxes until it gets closer to when they are going to start to lay. Hopefully by then they will have figured out how things are suppose to work in the coop, so that you have to deal with poopy eggs.

 

[kannna]

First

Second it sounds like your doing things pretty on par. Grit is only needed if you are feeding them something other than processed food. You are feeding them other items and providing grit so your all set there. They will take it when they need it. Chickens don't have teeth, grit goes in their crop and helps them to break down food. You may want to switch from chick food to grower food at this point, but that's really up to you.

Last, there are several different ways to get them not to sleep in the nest box. The main one is to block it off at this point. They won't be laying for a while and you just need to block it off until they get into the habit of roosting.

Good Luck