New chicks arrived yesterday - can I cook them egg yolks?

[AliP]

My dad tells me how much the chicks on the farm loved egg yolks when he was growing up. Is it too soon to be giving my new babies "table food?" If not, what else can I cook for them? Scrambled eggs, oatmeal? Veggies, yet? Rehydrated meal worms (bought for the blue birds, but I'm sure they won't mind sharing)?

Thanks, I am SO excited! Having a ball with the new babies...I have all but one of them named so far - with 16, it's quite a job remembering them all!

 

[Den in Penn]

Eggs are perfectly fine for chicks. After all it is what they lived on before they hatched. They eat all sorts of foods when they are out with their mothers. So its not so much what they can eat, it's more about keeping their diet balanced while still in that fast growing chick stage. So go light with the extras till they get their feathers. And if you do treat them try to balance it. Some protein rich food (meal worms) with the vegetables

 

[Mrs. K]

I think I would go with mostly chick starter feed, and very limited treats at first. Plenty of good clean water. The thing is out and about, following mother, they get a lot of exercise, and as they are always moving on, they don't just eat one thing. In a confined area of a brooder, it would be very easy to overdo treats in an attempt to be generous and to tame them down.

Mrs K

 

[AliP]

Thanks Mrs K!!!! I am truly having the best time watching these little ones! I give them one mashed up hard boiled egg yolk each morning (and giggle when 16 chicks all try to find room on or around the paper plate), and have been offering a handful of their crumble in my palm to get them used to me. I caught a small pantry moth in their brooder this morning and offered it...many of them were unsure of what to do, but one of my rocks grabbed it and ran

I would sit and watch them all day if I didn't have to spend at least part of my day at work (needless to say, housework has gone out the window for the time being!) If human babies were this cute, my son wouldn't be an only child

 

[AliP]

Thanks! I'm in central PA, and am loving that the weather is warm for the little ones!

 

[aart]

Ditto on the balanced diet......and......Remember they need chick grit if fed anything other than starter crumble or hard boiled egg yolk.

 

[AliP]

Thanks, aart!

How much chick grit should I offer? I don't want them to "fill up" on that, I want them to grow up to be big and strong!

 

[aart]

Thanks, aart!

How much chick grit should I offer? I don't want them to "fill up" on that, I want them to grow up to be big and strong!

I just mix a bit in with what ever treat they are getting.

 

[dawnpel]

My chicks LOVE to take dust baths. I take a paper plate, fill it with sand fron outside and they have a ball. They munch on it and roll all threw it. They found a small worm and chased each other all around. :lol

 

[AliP]

I'll have to try that! Mine right now are into "bombing" each other...one will get up on a perch and launch herself onto one (or more!) others. I had one this morning try to perch on another's back whole she was perching!...it looked like two kids in the pool playing chicken!