Chick Treats

[Pierce Farm]

Do I need to limit my girls to just their chick starter? At what age can I start giving them treats? What is the best treat for them? Do I need to add grit to their diet? Please help! Sorry for all the questions! First time chick momma

 

[ChickenCanoe]

People are often anxious to provide treats. I don't feed anything other than chick starter till they are nearly fully grown other than what they find foraging.
My philosophy is that fresh starter feed has all the nutrients chickens are known to need at the correct ratios. Feeding treats will offset that balance and replace a complete feed.
I give grit from the very start. #1 chick grit for the first 4 weeks, #2 grit till about 9 weeks and adult grit after that.

As for treats, animal protein like fish, mealworms, crickets, etc. or bite size pieces of any vegetable or fruit. As omnivores, they can basically eat anything we should eat.

 

[staceyj]

Chick starter is a complete and scientifically balanced food source for them to grow and develop optimally. It is water soluble and easily digested without the aid of....

Chick grit

( which is dramatically different in size than adult grit)

And is not necessary until they start eating other foods OR
start scratching and foraging outdoors and have access to grass and bugs.

Having said that, treats such mealworms, bits of fruits or veggies, herbs, and hard boiled or scrambled eggs can be nutritious but should never be offered in large quantities.

Chicken scratch -ie: “cracked corn” is basically like feeding your babies junk food. It’s called crack for a good reason as they all seem to love it but is non -nutritious, and leads to fat accumulation in their bodies.
Just like if you ate chips and dip for dinner every night.

Treat should be 10% OR LESS of a chickens diet.

Many breeds are susceptible to fatty liver disease which leads to a number of ailments and can result in liver hemorrhage and an early death.

This happened to one of mine. A beautiful 14 month old australorp. She was the queen of begging, cute as a button, and fell over dead as she was exiting the nesting box.

Necropsy revealed a massive liver hemorrhage and an enormous amount of fat inside her abdomen.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

This is an area (like practically everything else on here) where we can all have different opinions and a lot of personal preference. I'll give you my opinions and what I do.

My broody hens start giving their chicks what many would call treats shortly after she brings them off the nest. The ones that hatch in the coop usually eat chick food and drink water for the first couple of days because that's all they have until she takes them outside. The ones that hide a nest and hatch outside the coop start them immediately because they have better access.

I personally like to wait a couple of days after they learn to eat their chick food before I start on any treats for my brooder-raised chicks. Some people start treats immediately like the broody hens. Just remember that the chick feed should be the vast part of their diet. The chick feed is a complete balanced diet and contains everything they need for growth. Too many treats can upset that balanced diet, even if it is a very healthy treat. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. To grow up healthy and strong they do not need treats, their chick feed by itself is sufficient.

They do not need grit if all they eat is things that do not need to be ground up in their gizzard. Chick feed has already been ground up, no grit required. There area few treats that do not require grinding, like boiled eggs. But it's a good idea to give them grit for most treats just in case. Anything in chunks needs to be ground up. Green leafy vegetables or even grass needs to be ground. A broody hen takes her chicks to a bare spot of ground right at the start so they can peck at the ground so they can find grit. I feed my brooder-raised chicks dirt from the run on their second day in the brooder. Not only does this give them grit but it strengthens their immune system and gets the started on the flock immunities they will need and gets probiotics from the adults in their systems. If you don't have adults you won't get all these benefits but I think it is still a good practice. If you don't want to feed them dirt you can probably get chick-sized grit at the feed store. Depending in what you feed them they don't absolutely have to have grit and many people raise their chicks never giving them grit, but I think it is a good practice.

What can you give them as treats? Practically anything you can give an adult chicken. That's what a broody hen would give them. You may need to break it up into bite-sized pieces, broodies do that for their chicks with bigger stuff. Just don't feed any of it to excess. Rely mainly on the chick feed for their balanced diet.

Other than occasional dirt from the run I don't give my brooder-raised chicks any treats until they are out foraging with the adults, usually around five weeks of age. Then they get whatever they can find for themselves. I often toss garden and orchard waste and excess and kitchen wastes to them all, adults and chicks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The general consensus among all is that if only crumbles or pellets are fed, grit is unnecessary.
That is the rule I followed for many years.
Then I accidentally conducted an unintended experiment which made me believe otherwise.
After I moved some chicks to a coop, I decided to offer them some chick grit and put it in one of those quart chick feeders. They ate all of it in under two days.
I then decided to give grit to all future chicks I raised and increase grit size apace as the chicks grew.
Once I sold part of a hatch of day olds to a friend. In time it turned out that several of hers were cockerels. I told her I would trade her a pullet for a cockerel.
I wasn't planning on adding it to my flock and was about to butcher several cockerels and butchered hers at the same time.
These birds were all the same breed and line from the same hatch. Her cockerel's gizzard was half the size of my birds' gizzards. I was always told that grit helps develop the gizzard but I hadn't expected to see such a dramatic difference.
A big powerful gizzard will serve your birds well all their lives.

 

[lazy gardener]

Excellent post @ChickenCanoe . I am in the "Chicks need grit" camp. I believe they should have it shortly after they figure out what the chick crumble is all about! God gave them a gizzard for a reason, and it should be used.

My chicks also get: A plug of sod. Poultry Nutri Drench. And scrambled egg. And their feed is fermented. IMO, these are the only treats a brooder raised chick should get until she moves out of the brooder.

This season, I have 22 chicks being raised by 2 broody hens. B/C they have been outdoors in the run, I have been somewhat lax about giving them the above items. Mamas are seeing to their needs, including giving them greens, grit, insects, worm and deep litter (Yes, they chow down on some of that deep, rich, fragrant, black compost in the run.)

 

[Pierce Farm]

Thank you all for your responses. I still have lots to learn! I’m sooo blessed to have found this site. Everyone is extremely nice and welcoming!