Feeding baby chicks?

[Russ13]

I have a few questions about feeding baby chicks.

1 at what age do you introduce chick grit to them?

2 at what age can you feed them scrambled eggs?

3 how do you make them scrambled eggs?

4 at what age can you start giving them things like meal worms and other treat items?

Thanks everyone

 

[LizzzyJo]

If they are healthy then I do the two week mark for all of the foods and grit mentioned. Eggs are just scrambled in a pan with no seasonings. If they are very sick, then a bit of egg can be given as a pick-me-up, but that is a different matter.

I’m sure everyone has their own way of doing things, but that’s just mine. No food or grit except chick starter until 2 weeks. You could do chick gro-gel if you wanted to.

 

[DobieLover]

Give the chick grit the day before you feed them anything other than their chick starter or eggs. You can start that after they are a week old although, I confess, my broody hens feed them whatever they forage as soon as she takes them out of the maternity ward.
You can feed them scrambled eggs as soon as you want. I just whip up an egg and microwave/mix 15 seconds at a time until cooked. Mash it up into tiny pieces and feed when it's room temperature.
The first "treat" I offer chicks is a clump of sod from the yard with dirt, rocks, critters and grass in it. They LOVE that. I'll offer this after a week old. Then they can have no more than one meal worm total each. You don't want them filling up on anything other than their complete chick starter ration. Treats should ALWAYS be kept to a bare minimum.

 

[Russ13]

So I made a scrabbled egg in the microwave. I fed them a few very tiny pieces and they went crazy for it. They chased each other around ate a t from my hand?

How much egg can I give them??

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm sure you'll see that everyone does things a little differently. I offer grit from the start, but I'm also brooding outside where the chicks are tasting everything from the litter to bugs. I don't do scrambled eggs or eggs in any form. I begin offering treats around 7-10 days or so, just a few broken pieces of mealworms, to help them get over their fear of my hands.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm sure you'll see that everyone does things a little differently. I offer grit from the start, but I'm also brooding outside where the chicks are tasting everything from the litter to bugs.

I also had to offer grit right away because I also brood outdoors.

One batch started eating ants within half an hour of being unboxed. Another batch decided that the bugs that had died on the heatlamp the night before^ looked tasty and scarfed them up while they were supposed to still be in their "water only until you're sure they're all drinking" period.

^Making the brooder cozy in preparation for their arrival.

 

[Russ13]

Wow.
These girls loved scrabbled eggs,.
I gave them some last night and I didn’t want to feed them to much of it so I didn’t give them any tonight. They were very afraid of me before but now if I put my hand in the brooder they come running to it and jump in my hand expecting scrambled eggs. It’s crazy

 

[NatJ]

These girls loved scrabbled eggs,.
I gave them some last night and I didn’t want to feed them to much of it so I didn’t give them any tonight. They were very afraid of me before but now if I put my hand in the brooder they come running to it and jump in my hand expecting scrambled eggs. It’s crazy

You can also add water to chick starter, to make a wet mush. Chicks usually love that too, and will happily eat it from a dish or from your hand. (And because it's just their usual food plus water, it's safe to give it to them as often as you want.)