Can you give chicks herbs?

[LoloCluckCluck]

Hello! This is my first time raising chicks (they arrive in three weeks!!) and I am in the midst of gathering all of my supplies. While at the store a stranger recommended the herbed bedding to help with smell and give the chicks a treat. However, is that actually sound advice? Can chicks eat herbs safely, or is that only for chickens when they’re older? (And then what treats SHOULD I have on hand for my chicks instead). Thank you in advance!!

 

[nuthatched]

I use pee pads for the first two weeks, then they go in the coop brooder with large pine flakes.
I'd pass on the herb/hay. It's a good way to impact them.

 

[yakitori]

herbs on chicken poop doesn’t cover the smell, it makes it smell like chicken poop with a dash of Italian seasoning.

If it’s you first time brooding chicks, I highly recommend to play it safe. As time goes on you’ll learn what to watch for in their behaviors to catch and deal with issues.

As for myself, my birds go on pine pellets from day one, with a piece of paper towel for the first few days on which I sprinkle food to make sure they all know what food looks like. The pellets are too big for them to eat on day 1, and by the time it disintegrates a bit, they’ve learned to recognize it as “not-food”.

sometimes I mix in some herbs into the chick feed - left over from mixing food for the hens, it’s never hurt them. I do provide them grit from day 1.

 

[Dpamer]

Hello! This is my first time raising chicks (they arrive in three weeks!!) and I am in the midst of gathering all of my supplies. While at the store a stranger recommended the herbed bedding to help with smell and give the chicks a treat. However, is that actually sound advice? Can chicks eat herbs safely, or is that only for chickens when they’re older? (And then what treats SHOULD I have on hand for my chicks instead). Thank you in advance!!

Hi to answer your question chick should not be given anything except starter chick food. Herbs should not be introduced until much older and even then it's not necessary. Also chicks do not need treats you're only taking away from the diet they really need which is the chick starter feed. Hope this helps happy chickening.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hi to answer your question chick should not be given anything except starter chick food. Herbs should not be introduced until much older and even then it's not necessary. Also chicks do not need treats you're only taking away from the diet they really need which is the chick starter feed. Hope this helps happy chickening.

^^^THIS! Herbs are for when you put the chicken in the stew pot, for flavoring. Italian seasonings go very well with dumplings.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My opinion on this is that chicks (or grown chickens) do not NEED herbs or any other treat. As long as you are feeding them an age-appropriate chicken feed it contains all that they need. If you feed them much of anything else it can affect the balanced diet of all nutrition in their chicken feed. I consider giving them chick-sized grit at a very young age a good idea in case they eat something that needs to be ground up. But if all they get is chick feed in mash or crumble form (even pellets when they get older) that has already been ground up so they do not need grit.

Some people have the urge to give their chicks and chickens treats. Some people seem to need to do this whether the chickens need it or not. As long as they have grit to grind it up and that extra is a relatively small amount of their diet (not enough to cause unbalance in the balanced nutrients they get from the feed) I don't see a problem. Mine forage for a lot of their food. I give them table scraps and garden wastes. Not to enhance their diets with specific extra nutrients they really don't need but to reduce my feed costs. It also gives me pleasure to see them living somewhat naturally.

Can chicks eat herbs safely, or is that only for chickens when they’re older? (And then what treats SHOULD I have on hand for my chicks instead).

One of the first things my broody hens do when they bring their chicks off of the nest is take them to a place they can peck at the ground to get grit. Then she takes them out foraging. They get bits of vegetative matter by pecking at the ground, eat some growing greens, and an occasional creepy crawly. If some of those growing greens happen to be herbs so be it. That will not poison them or harm them as long as it is a small part of what they eat overall.

The only treats I give my brooder raised chicks is a little dirt from the run. This gets them grit, lets them start working on flock immunities they will need, and gets them probiotics from the adults. On rare occasions I may drop a bug of some kind in there if I happen to catch one just to watch them play keep-away with it.

In my opinion, if you want to feed them treats it will not hurt them as long as the amounts are fairly small. But people that feed them treats to enhance their lives probably need to do that a lot more than the chicks need to receive it. Nothing wrong with that. You are enjoying the experience and not hurting them.

 

[LoloCluckCluck]

I use pee pads for the first two weeks, then they go in the coop brooder with large pine flakes.
I'd pass on the herb/hay. It's a good way to impact them.

Thank you!

 

[LoloCluckCluck]

My opinion on this is that chicks (or grown chickens) do not NEED herbs or any other treat. As long as you are feeding them an age-appropriate chicken feed it contains all that they need. If you feed them much of anything else it can affect the balanced diet of all nutrition in their chicken feed. I consider giving them chick-sized grit at a very young age a good idea in case they eat something that needs to be ground up. But if all they get is chick feed in mash or crumble form (even pellets when they get older) that has already been ground up so they do not need grit.

Some people have the urge to give their chicks and chickens treats. Some people seem to need to do this whether the chickens need it or not. As long as they have grit to grind it up and that extra is a relatively small amount of their diet (not enough to cause unbalance in the balanced nutrients they get from the feed) I don't see a problem. Mine forage for a lot of their food. I give them table scraps and garden wastes. Not to enhance their diets with specific extra nutrients they really don't need but to reduce my feed costs. It also gives me pleasure to see them living somewhat naturally.


One of the first things my broody hens do when they bring their chicks off of the nest is take them to a place they can peck at the ground to get grit. Then she takes them out foraging. They get bits of vegetative matter by pecking at the ground, eat some growing greens, and an occasional creepy crawly. If some of those growing greens happen to be herbs so be it. That will not poison them or harm them as long as it is a small part of what they eat overall.

The only treats I give my brooder raised chicks is a little dirt from the run. This gets them grit, lets them start working on flock immunities they will need, and gets them probiotics from the adults. On rare occasions I may drop a bug of some kind in there if I happen to catch one just to watch them play keep-away with it.

In my opinion, if you want to feed them treats it will not hurt them as long as the amounts are fairly small. But people that feed them treats to enhance their lives probably need to do that a lot more than the chicks need to receive it. Nothing wrong with that. You are enjoying the experience and not hurting them.

Thank you SO MUCH! This is incredibly helpful!

Maybe a silly follow up question, but do they know to go for the grit automatically? Or is that something I need to introduce to them?

 

[LoloCluckCluck]

Hi to answer your question chick should not be given anything except starter chick food. Herbs should not be introduced until much older and even then it's not necessary. Also chicks do not need treats you're only taking away from the diet they really need which is the chick starter feed. Hope this helps happy chickening.

Thank you!

 

[LoloCluckCluck]

herbs on chicken poop doesn’t cover the smell, it makes it smell like chicken poop with a dash of Italian seasoning.

If it’s you first time brooding chicks, I highly recommend to play it safe. As time goes on you’ll learn what to watch for in their behaviors to catch and deal with issues.

As for myself, my birds go on pine pellets from day one, with a piece of paper towel for the first few days on which I sprinkle food to make sure they all know what food looks like. The pellets are too big for them to eat on day 1, and by the time it disintegrates a bit, they’ve learned to recognize it as “not-food”.

sometimes I mix in some herbs into the chick feed - left over from mixing food for the hens, it’s never hurt them. I do provide them grit from day 1.

A dash of Italian seasoning- this made me chuckle (cluckle?) This is all so good to know, thank you!!