Pasty butt or umbilical?

[Stephroxy]

Last night I mixed some grit in their food and sprinkled some around since they have been digging in the bedding. They loved the yogurt but didn't care at all about the Strawberry mash. Now back to the store since I got 24‰ protein instead of 20%.

 

[azygous]

It's occurred to me that a reason chicks tend to eat their bedding is because they have an early instinct to load their gizzards with grit.

I've been acquiring chicks the natural way the last several years - broody hatched and raised. The little ones are on sand in the coop, so the minute they pop out of the nest, they are consuming grit from the sand bedding.

It's a little disconcerting at first, seeing tiny babies interested in eating sand before they appear to notice their food, but it makes logical sense. They abruptly quit eating the sand, and I assume it's because they sense their gizzards are now equipped to handle any food their mama gives them.

 

[classicsredone]

It's a little disconcerting at first, seeing tiny babies interested in eating sand before they appear to notice their food, but it makes logical sense. They abruptly quit eating the sand, and I assume it's because they sense their gizzards are now equipped to handle any food their mama gives them.

It is amazing how these little creatures with brains the size of peanuts manage to eat exactly what they are intended to eat, and no more. Aside from hybrid broilers, chickens seem to know what to eat, what not to eat, and they stop when they are full. They are so close to dinosaurs and have teensy brains, but somehow they have survived and thrived as a species for so long.