Chicks In The Sand

[Shannys Girls]

I have chicks that are probably about a week old. I put them in a plastic child's swimming pool, with sand as the litter. If they are eating the sand, is that going to hurt them?

 

[Judy]

No. A little will give them some grit to grind food.

They will eat a little pine shavings or hay, too.

 

[ChicknsRock]

Sand will not hurt them because they actually need some gritty food to help with digestion.

 

[Shannys Girls]

Thank you! It was a real pain dealing with the paper towels & pine shavings that I started out with. Realizing very quickly, that all chickens do is eat, sleep, poop & poop some more. LOL But, I am very excited to have them! Glad to know that they are safe in the sand. ( :

 

[BantamLover21]

As long as they don't stuff themselves with the sand, it won't hurt them. Chickens of all ages eat sand and small stones that are then used in their gizzard (a sort of muscular second stomach) to grind up the feed they eat properly. The only thing you need to watch out for is impacted crop, caused by gorging on hard things or fibery grasses.

 

[Shannys Girls]

What would an impacted crop look like?

 

[realsis]

Impacted crop would look large and likely if it were impacted by Sand you could feel it.it wouldn't go down over night like a usually full crop would.

 

[BantamLover21]

What would an impacted crop look like?

It would be large, and feel hard for a long period of time. Instead of emptying at night (so that it is flat in the morning), it would remain huge.