chiks eating litter?

[Scratchin' Around]

I have 25 10-day old barred rock and Ameracauna chicks, and just transferred them from paper towels to shavings. All were growing well and eating well from the feeder. Now that I've switched them, about 2/3 seem to be attacking the food in the feeder, but the other 1/3 seems to be eating the litter. Is this just because it's new? Should I be worrying? They've been on the new litter about 1/2 hour, and they all seem psyched about it--scratching and flapping around like crazy. There are just those few.....

 

[cjeanean]

They're probably eating it cause it's new. You might want to put a few paper towels over the litter at first, just so they don't have too much to freak out on. Some of the litter pieces will end up on top of the paper towels, which may get them used to it. That's what I did for mine. Also, they might just be playing around with it and eating a few pieces in the process.