Chick Treats?

[FarmerDenise]

I do put whole clumps of grass in, dirt and all. Beside that I cut up nice juicy grasses and weeds (that I know they can eat) into little bits, maybe 1/4 inch long. I use scissors to do that, so it goes pretty quick. Momma hen will tear little pieces of vegetation off and drop it in front of the chick, making encouraging noises like: here honey, this is really yummy, come and eat now dear....
With worms and grubs, I usually put it into a little dish or the lid of a container, so at least initially it does not end up with too much shavings on it.
Actually I stay away from shavings. I use newspaper and paper towels for the 1st week or so and then use newspaper and hay or dried grasses from the yard. I leave all the vegetation to dry in the chickpen and then just keep adding more until the poop gets too much then I just roll up the newspaper with all the mess inside. Then I start over with newspaper on the bottom and paper towels and hay.
I keep lids from coffe cans and the like for all kinds of stuff. One of which is as chick feeder. Even though the food doesn't stay on there for long. It satisfies my need to put food on a clean surface.

 

[tankernav1]

Cool. Thanks for the info. We just switched to shavings from using just towels and washing them. The shavings can go longer between cleanings but the towels looked so much better and I'm wasting so much food and having to change water so much more often. Maybe I'll try the newspaper thing. We do have straw or hay we could put in. I really want to get them used to nature stuff. So if you put in the clumps of grass---don't they eat that grass too? You say you cut up pieces but aren't they getting the long pieces too. Ours will be 3 weeks old in a day. So almost like a small piece of sod in there and they should be able to find enough rock /grit in the dirt to be fine? And they know how to do that??

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

Just a thought about sand on the side of the road. It may have road salt so probably not your best choice.
I contemplated that too, but then thought twice. You can get sand at just about any home and garden centre and if you're near a farm store they sell actual chick grit.

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

Sooo....what's the verdict on oatmeal?

Do I get the canister of Quaker Oats and just dump some dry oats in a bowl for them?

Or do I cook up some oatmeal and serve it up?

Mine are 2 1/2 weeks old and get yogurt and egg.

How often should they get treats?

One treat a day?

or one treat a week?

I've been doing yogurt one day and egg the next - and skipping a day here and there. Mine are in an outside run in the grass during daylight hours so they have full access to all the weeds, grass and bugs they can find (within their run, of course). They seem soooooo much happier than they did in their little plastic box.

 

[packmomma]

I started out with paper towel in mine also and went to a bigger brooder and put in shavings. I remedied the shavings in food for the most part because I got a large serving tray that is only like a 1/2 inch deep. My chicks know that whatever is on that tray they should eat cause its yummy. It only took about a week for them to learn this. This is making it easier to introduce new foods. I also feed them fresh grass clippings, sand, dirt, and worms. I feed this one day..then dirty eggs, the next and skip a day. Poop seems normal. I introduced some romaine lettuce and yogurt but they didnt seem to care too much for the yogurt. I will keep trying. The serving tray keeps mess to a minimum and by rolling the stuff in dirt and sand it keeps shavings from sticking. Only thing that appears to fall in the shavings in large form is the grass from them scratching.

 

[tcwk]

Quote:
I just gave mine some egg white and it was sooo cute watching them run around with the little chunks. Thanks for the help

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

Quote:
You didn't give them the yolk too?

 

[Matoe]

Gave my week old chicks seedless grapes and canlopeand strawberries. They went crazy Looked like a cost rica game of football. I'll feed them somemore and try to make a video. They ate all there fruit by morning.

 

[tcwk]

No, I didn't give them yolk, should I have given it to them?

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

Quote:
LOL - I have no clue. I assume so. I read to give chicks hard boiled mashed egg so I just got a hard boiled egg, mashed it up and gave it to them - the whole egg...white, yolk together. They've been eating the yolk and white for over a week now.