chicks eating pine shavings....

[gritsar]

Quote:
What's the first thing that nourishes a chick? A yolk, of course!

They love eggs, good protein. I think it was my chick's first or second treat, along with plain yogurt. They still love both to this day.

 

[bigdawg]

i line my brooders with rubber shelf linner that you would use in kitchen cabinets. gets nasty just take them out give a shake and you good to. no more spraddle legs either

 

[Gonzo]

Hard Boiled eggs are a very good treat for chicks. We spoiled ours with smashed hard boiled eggs, and would also mix some of there feed with plain yogurt. They loved it! Strawberries are a nice treat too, just make sure they have chick grit too.

 

[dwegg]

GREAT! Thanks everyone...I will go home tonight and give them scrambled eggs again...and some sand to dust bath in and eat(?). They do already bath in the shavings which is funny. Someone said I can just get play sand from HomeDepot...is that right? and this will be fine for them to eat as well? for grit.

I did put half a strawberry in with them the other day but they huddled in the corner shacking with fear!!!

poor babies so I took it out! I only have two babies but they are fascinating to watch and are really loving and love to be held and fall asleep when I hold them.

Even when I am teaching in the classroom, no matter how loud I am, if i am holding them they will fall asleep or sit there and preen and seem to be very happy even with all the noise.

Just want to say that I am addicted to chickens and I don't know how this happened? I am NOT the person who you would think would have chickens let alone LOVE chickens!

P.S...I am also addicted to BYC...I love all the pics, stories and info. on here...thank you for having this community!

 

[gritsar]

I think the play sand would be fine. When mine were really small I just bought the parakeet grit from walmart (the kind without added calcium). A few weeks later they were eating "grit" that I shoveled out of our gravel road.

 

[RAWR]

lol ya, they do that sometimes
it wont hurt them tho

 

[Bennett4]

Could eating too many shavings give them chicken crap I have a barred rock with chicken crap and I’m thinking it could be pine shavings

 

[k9baron]

I recently put pine shavings down to cover the mud in my hen run, the hens starting pecking at the shaving, couldn't tell if they were eating it; but I quickly put some scratch grain down in their feeding area and they obviously ran over to get the grain, forgot all about the shavings I had put down lol. They never did go back to the shavings.

 

[tdan]

Mine peck and scratch and shavings from a chipper and mulch from a horizontal grinder constantly and have no issues.

There is slag fine gravel in the run for them at choice by the ton.

I recently put pine shavings down to cover the mud in my hen run, the hens starting pecking at the shaving, couldn't tell if they were eating it; but I quickly put some scratch grain down in their feeding area and they obviously ran over to get the grain, forgot all about the shavings I had put down lol. They never did go back to the shavings.

 

[dougieee]

I normally start my newborns on aa puppy pad for 48 hours, just so i know they have all got the hang of eating and drinking, then i switch to shavings.
If you watch them closely you will see that they dont actually eat much wood at all, they do scratch through it and peck at things but they dont actually swallow much.