Grit at what age?

[Wendyfox9]

How old should chicks be before you give them grit? My 12 are a little over a week but have lots of feathers. I keep them in the coop in a box with a heat lamp. It got down to 26 degrees last night and they did fine! I would like to give them treats but don't know what to give with no grit yet.

 

[LCG Chicken Coop]

Your chicks can consume specially sized chick grit at this point. I hear it’s best to offer a finite amount because they sometimes mistake it as food and eat too much, but they definitely need some grit if you are going to feed treats (anything other than chicken specific feed.)

 

[loohoo]

Our chicks are 3 weeks old and I just gave them chick grit yesterday so we could begin giving treats. They had mealworms. When I went to feed them this morning, I noticed the little dish of grit was empty...I know they went nuts over it yesterday, and I'm sure alot was scratched all over the place but I did take it out today. They were definitely really interested in it, almost over food so ill be monitoring that.

 

[Wendyfox9]

I can't find chick grit so I got Parakeet grit. Is that ok?

 

[birdsrfun]

The parakeet grit should be fine. Just make sure there’s no calcium like oyster shell in it.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I offer Chick Grit at 2 weeks old.
I mix into the Chick Starter, because they can over indulge if given free choice at this age.
I mix at a ratio of 1 to 40 by weight.
2 ounces Grit to 5 pounds of Feed.
I use a kitchen scale.
I mix into feed till 10 weeks old.

I offer Adult size Poultry Grit separately after 7 weeks old. . GC

 

[loohoo]

I offer Chick Grit at 2 weeks old.
I mix into the Chick Starter, because they can over indulge if given free choice at this age.
I mix at a ratio of 1 to 40 by weight.
2 ounces Grit to 5 pounds of Feed.
I use a kitchen scale.
I mix into feed till 10 weeks old.

I offer Adult size Poultry Grit separately after 7 weeks old.View attachment 2131098. GC

That is really smart! I've been wondering about that, as the chicks went crazy over the grit I put in there yesterday and were eating it just like they do the feed. It made me worried they were just filling up on the grit...I took it out actually, for that reason. I may need to mix it in with the feed instead of just putting a dish of it in the brooder.