How to serve new foods.

[baemiller]

I have baby chick's and I would like to start introducing treats/ other foods. I have read some posts and have a good idea which ones I would like to serve lol but they won't go near them. I have tried boiled egg apples and tomorrow will possible be a vegetables but is there a way to give it to them I tried cutting it up it tiny pieces serving half apples so they could stand and peck at it but they won't touch any of them.
Is it too soon?
Thanks for any help.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

People are often in a rush to introduce new foods. I don't know how old your birds are but I don't give anything but starter/grower till they are foraging outside which, depending on season can be anywhere from 5 to 12 weeks.
Eventually they'll eat virtually anything from seeds and worms to your garden veggies to frogs and chicken.
Keep in mind that chick starter/grower has all the nutrients in the proper ratios for healthy chickens. Anything else can alter that nutrition. Baby chicks eat so little, I don't want to mess with that simple nutritional balance by offsetting it.

When you do start giving things, it's best to chop them up small enough to fit down the esophagus since they don't have hands and teeth. They can only pick apart soft things like lettuce and melons. Put a carrot or broccoli spears out and they'll ignore them. Dice them and they'll eat them all.

Are you providing chick grit right now? Don't feed anything other than feed until you also give grit.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Chick grit is about the same size as parakeet grit but they outgrow it by about 3 weeks depending on the size of the birds. Bantams can go a bit longer before they graduate.
#1,2 and 3 grit are for chicks, adolescents and adults. #4 is for adult turkeys.
http://www.tccmaterials.com/product.cfm?id=605

http://www.tccmaterials.com/pdf/CSgritdata.pdf