New Chicken Mom in VA

[Chick-N-Fun]

Welcome to our FUNomenal Community!
Best Wishes & Be Well!

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Congrats on the new chicks! If you have any questions about them along the way, be sure to ask. Welcome aboard!

 

[Eggscaping]

Hi all! My family finally took the plunge and now we are the proud and doting caretakers of 8 baby chicks! Out of impatience we opted to buy our flock from Tractor Supply (but already see heritage chicks in our future). We have Amberlink, Golden Comet, IDA Brown, and Production Red. We can't wait to spoil them! They are going on their second week and I feel like they would be so happy with a treat of some kind since they are scratching and looking for goodies. I'm going to look around the forums and see if maybe they could have a worm, weed, veg., or fruit treat. Thank you for all of the wisdom on this site! I'm sure I will be a regular visitor!

Welcome to BackYardChickens! So glad to have you here in our wonderful community of friendly, helpful, knowledgeable people! Here's the deal with chicks...they SCRATCH! That's one of the baby instincts they have. They will even scratch when standing in the middle of a plate of feed! The baby food gives them everything they need to grow strong and healthy. If you must give a treat (and I know THAT temptation!) offer just a tiny bit of scrambled egg. The thing is, you can't give them mealworms or anything else besides the baby food unless you also offer them grit, and from our experience, it's really hard to find teensy-tiny grit in their size. They need grit for their tiny crops to grind up food, but the baby food that's for chicks is made so it's soft enough to not need grit. If you can stand it, just give tiny bits of scrambled egg and hold off on more "chewy" types of treats until they get old enough/big enough to eat some regular chicken grit. They don't feel 'neglected' or 'uncared-for' with only their prepared food...it really is best for them - for now.

 

[CLaRu]

Eggscaping - thank you so much for your very helpful message! I had seen mention of grit while cruising the site, and was then uncertain about giving treats to them. BUT, scrambled eggs are an easy and available little treat we can give here and there! YAY! We love our chickies! Thank you again for your warm welcome, and for the help!

 

[Painted Calls]

Hello and welcome fellow Virginian!

Here is a link to the Virginia thread if you're interested.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/virginia.80/

 

[CLaRu]

Cool! Thank you Overo Mare!

 

[Isaac 0]

Hello, and Welcome to BackYard Chickens! So glad you decided to join! Make yourself at home here.

 

[drumstick diva]

So glad you joined us at Backyard Chickens, You are very welcome here

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

I make chick grit available from day 1. Just keep in mind what treats do to the balance of their feed.

 

[ladybrasa]

Hello, also from Virginia

As others have said, do not give anything other than chick starter feed (or scrambled eggs) unless they also get grit. Mine are 1-2 weeks old and I gave them a big flat saucer of dirt with a few clover bits in it and purchased a small container of parakeet grit to mix in as well. My understanding is dirt bits may be sufficient, but added the parakeet grit just in case. Anyway, they LOVED it and so far so good!