I'm new to this and trying to be as prepared as possible when the chicks arrive. I have a few questions about treats for baby chicks. I'm going to be tempted to spoil them right away and I want to do it in a way that won't harm them!
1. Is it better to wait as long as possible, at least to a week? I know things like hard boiled eggs have good protein, is that ok to give sooner?
2. Is it better to start them on soft treats that don't need grit, like yogurt and hard boiled eggs? What's the rule of thumb for what needs grit- if you could eat it without teeth, they can eat it without grit? Anything you'd give to a baby without teeth? Can they eat spaghetti without grit?
3. When's a good time to introduce foods that do need grit, and the grit itself?
4. When feeding yogurt, does it have to be a plain variety? I've seen pictures of adult hens eating what looked like blueberry yogurt. Can it be flavored? would chunks of fruit require grit?
Any more suggestions for favorite treats, and do they need grit, or not? I know about hard boiled eggs, yogurt, spaghetti and bugs (which do need grit, i know). I know people suggest oatmeal- is this cooked or raw?
I am assuming you do not have a mama hen with them and that is my only experience so some of my answers might not apply in your case.
With my babies we gave them raw millet, raw oats, and raw amaranth grains from the beginning. They didn't seem to like it as much raw at first as when we put some water on it so it softened then they loved it. Also fed them little bits of banana, papaya, and other fruit. Whatever you can break up into small bits for them is helpful because that's what mama hen does...pecks things and then drops it or they jump up and eat it from her mouth.
I would say boiled egg broken up in smaller pieces would be fine from the beginning, no need to wait.
I would also say most foods that can be mushed up easily enough with your fingers would be fine before they gave grit in their crop.
Also one way to get the babies to eat would be to tap the food with your finger nail or even scrape it and allow them to peck it out of your nail, like they would a mamas beak. You might even try making short clipped clucking noises (you might be able to get sound bites somewhere online) to mimic the mother hen and so they know the food is something for them to eat.
They also don't seem to like foods that stick to their beaks at first such as cooked grains but the raw form or soaked raw is fine.
Based on educated guess any kind of yogurt will do, the fruit in it is fine but I wouldn't give them anything with super high amounts of simple processed sugars while they are young. I don't believe fruit requires grit for them to digest...think of a baby person, they can swallow small pieces of very soft fruits no problem.
As for grit itself, they get it naturally from pecking at dirt and tiny bits of rock so my guess would be either put them outside in an area where that is available and watch them for a while, or bring some of that to them and see if they peck at it.
That's all I can think of, hope that helps.
