New Chicks Today!

[TropicalBabies]

I don't have any experience with itty bittys but the food container looks dangerous to me. The hole is big enough for their whole little bodies to get through and get stuck inside the container.
I had a wild bird get stuck inside a feeder once. Made me think of it.

Oh no! Hope bird was OK.
I had feral chicks ( we have a lot of wild chickens here) get stuck inside a Grandpa's feeder... twice. Little buggars. Their mom must have stepped on the plate for them to eat and they got shut in? Or somehow crawled up into the storage portion of the feeder.. Def would have killed them had I not heard their chirping in one of my many obsessive chicken checks. They do do the darnest things. I have a few funnel feeders and have had feral chick camp in the openings but not get stuck (thank goodness!!!)

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thanks for the grit info. That makes sense. I'll sprinkle some grit onto the pine shavings. Does that sound right?

You don't want to encourage them to eat the shavings so better to sprinkle it on their food, just a small pinch once every few days, or offer a small amount of it in a dish on the side (they can gorge on it if allowed, hence keeping the amount available limited).

 

[KyCoop]

The wild bird was fine. Thankfully it was not hot that day and I was able to get him out quickly. It was one of those long tube hanging feeders. Once the food got below the middle hole he went in after it but could not get out! He was none the worst for ware and had a story to tell his friends. The feeder went in the trash.

 

[KappyFlock]

You don't want to encourage them to eat the shavings so better to sprinkle it on their food, just a small pinch once every few days, or offer a small amount of it in a dish on the side (they can gorge on it if allowed, hence keeping the amount available limited).

Oh! I thought I would discourage gorging by making them work for it. I didn't realize they might eat shavings! I won't sprinkle grit on the shavings any more. They do spend a lot of time scraping the shavings out of the way and pecking at the bottom of the coop (vinyl flooring). Are they eating tiny particles of the shavings or is this just what they do out of instinct?

 

[rosemarythyme]

They do spend a lot of time scraping the shavings out of the way and pecking at the bottom of the coop (vinyl flooring). Are they eating tiny particles of the shavings or is this just what they do out of instinct?

Instinct tells them to scratch around for food. When they're young, they're not very discerning about what they eat. As long as they don't eat too much of the shavings (and have grit) there shouldn't be an issue.

 

[KappyFlock]

Instinct tells them to scratch around for food. When they're young, they're not very discerning about what they eat. As long as they don't eat too much of the shavings (and have grit) there shouldn't be an issue.

Ok, thanks. They spend a lot of time doing this but they seem happy so hopefully they know what they're doing!