Is Quinoa seed okay to feed my 7 week old girls?

[ladybuglives]

I know that people include quinoa in homemade feeds for chickens. I have a bunch that I harvested from last year's garden -- can I give it to my 7 week old babies? Also, how do you get your chicks to start eating slugs and worms? Mine look at them like they're poisonous!

 

[elmo]

I feed quinoa to all of our birds but I cook it first (after soaking and rinsing to remove the bitter coating). If your chicks have no hen to show them what to eat, it may take a while before one is brave enough. You can try to help things along by pecking at a new food with your finger until one of them gets the idea.

My chicks from last year took a whole year before they really got into eating bugs of all kinds, including flying ones.