New peachicks, I have questions!

[PeaShack]

I put a little dish of chick grit in with them but they started eating it like it was crumbles, so I took it out. I hope they didn't eat too much. They only had access to it for a couple seconds. Ugh...

Probably shoulda just sprinkled a little on the floor for em. I'll wait a few weeks and try that before I offer them a little bit of cut up mealworms.

This is my first time raising peachicks as well. Have 4 spaldings I hatched from eBay eggs (fantastic seller, if any one needs that info let me know). Mine just turned 4 weeks old.

I still have them on gamebird starter 30%. They will eat the dry crumbles but still cry and beg for their crumbles to be wetted down to a mash.

I tried to give them some dried meal worms to eat out of my hand and they just sampled and flung around.

I don’t have them on seed or vegetable matter as I have only just introduced them to their dust bath (when they come out, not kept in their brooder pen full time yet). For the indoor dust bath I use multipurpose sand that has different size grains and small pebbles so it doesn’t clump up easily. They did sample the sand and figured out the bathing immediately. (See pic).

Once they have the dust bath in their pen, it will double as a grit source (this has worked well for my chickens and quail in the past).

Mine are in the house and the plan is to keep them there till they are 12 weeks…will see how that works out . After that, will do outdoor field trips until outside full time. I don’t have them on medicated feed yet…but will start prior to going outside.

I have to say these guys are VERY different from raising chickens and quail.

 

[Artistickatt]

Today they are rolling on their sides kicking, I thought they were ill but no, looks like they are just attempting to take a dust bath in the fresh chick grit I sprinkled on their floor. Should I put some kinda box in there with... what in it for them to dust bath?

Mine just started this days ago, well a variation I started to call "digging for China". My other chicks did it as well. It was the point also I had to remove the brooder pad from under the bedding because they would accidently find it and all hell would break loose as they would tear up the pad and play keep away. I really need to start transitioning them to my intermediate set up in the next few weeks. If it were not a 100º outside I would start considering little field trips on the porch. Tomorrow, I install a large tree limb into the older chicks shelter to give them a roost.

 

[KsKingBee]

This is the perfect time to transition chicks to the outside weather.