Grit and Baby Mealworms, question!!

[SamanthaBrooke]

I have 3 week old d'Uccle Bantams and I put a very small and very shallow dish out with purred grit in it so they are tiny pebble sized and they are eating it like crazy, is this safe?

Also bought small meal worms and after they ate some grit I chopped the heads off the meal worms and offered them in my palm, they LOVED them and ran around with them in their mouth peeping like crazy and playing tag, I know the meal worms are okay for them to have as long as I had given the grit but am scared they may consume to much grit, how should I regulate or teach them not to eat too much? It is granite grit, not just sand.

Thanks!

 

[Michael Apple]

I've seen adult chickens gorge themselves on oyster shell and grit to the point of crop impaction. I would recommend sprinkling a bit of grit like salt in the feed rather than leaving a receptacle full of grit. At three weeks they shouldn't need much since they should be eating mostly starter/grower feed. Too much protein from mealworms in addition to protein content of feed could cause some constipation. I'd go easy on the worms.

 

[SamanthaBrooke]

Thank you, I have restricted the grit by a lot and only give them a small sprinkle when I give a treat, instead of a lot of worms I have been giving some puréed carrots in very small amounts a couple times a day, trying to get them friendly, it is working!!