Feed scraps to babies?

[ShirleyGail]

I have baby chicks hatched June 15, 2022, on chick starter and this week ranging on grass and bugs a few hours daily. I have table corn in my freezer from last yr that I am going to throw out because it is so tough now. Would this be too tough for the babies? Could I put it in a food processor with milk (they like milk) and feed them the slurry? They are doing so well I don't want to upset them but hate to waste the corn if they can eat it.

 

[azygous]

To be safe, they should have chick grit unless your soil has a lot of gravel in it. They'll need the grit to digest the corn.

 

[Anime2lover]

I have baby chicks hatched June 15, 2022, on chick starter and this week ranging on grass and bugs a few hours daily. I have table corn in my freezer from last yr that I am going to throw out because it is so tough now. Would this be too tough for the babies? Could I put it in a food processor with milk (they like milk) and feed them the slurry? They are doing so well I don't want to upset them but hate to waste the corn if they can eat it.

You can, but u less you have really rocky, sandy so, you should also provide chick grit.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

You can with grit, but be careful about being to tempted to try give them all sorts of food other than starter/grower. I remember how tempting it is to "see if they like this and that," but those tiny little bodies are ill-equipped to digest a whole lot of stuff. Like milk and all dairy, chickens love but it takes a lot of the right enzymes to process it and my understanding is chickens are lacking. That said my big's love a bowl of yogurt and cottage cheese every once in while. But I don't feed that to babies.

 

[Coops Dad]

All our leftovers, trimmings, scraps, kitchen waste, etc go to the chickens. If the stuff is going to the babies, my wife will run it through the sausage grinder with the largest screen installed.

We've never had an issue with any of the littles involving people food scraps.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

All our leftovers, trimmings, scraps, kitchen waste, etc go to the chickens. If the stuff is going to the babies, my wife will run it through the sausage grinder with the largest screen installed.

We've never had an issue with any of the littles involving people food scraps.

Sounds like a good process. I have to admit that about 20years ago as a super newbie, I cleaned out my teenagers stale cheerios and even dorito's bags and I lost a couple hens..... very bad idea.