Playground sand work as grit? Too young for treats?

[yakmama]

My babies will be 3 weeks old on Wed. Yesterday I bought some playground sand at Lowe's to give them as grit. Will this be ok? I also want to start giving them some treats (I want them used to eating table scraps). We already tried yogurt and they wanted nothing to do with it! Next I was going to try some lettuce or cabbage. What do you think? Are they too young for grit or treats?

 

[4 luv of eggs]

I'm no expert but I think the sand will be too fine. I bought chick grit at the feed store. People say you can use parakeet grit but I had trouble finding it without calcium.

You can try them on some hard boiled egg yolk without having to give them grit. Just the yolk though. Mash it up and offer it to them. Mine go bonkers over it. Once you do find the grit you can give them all kinds of treats. They're not too young at all for treats.

 

[Gonzo]

I would try a bag of river sand or commercial sand.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

I asked the same thing a while back and was advised by other bycers that it was okay.

I have a big $1 plastic bowl that I filled halfway with sand. My girls are a little over 5 weeks and love to dust and eat in it. As for yogurt, did you try it off your finger? Mine love yogurt and will eat it off my finger or a bowl. I have given them chopped raw broccoli, shredded cheese, hardboiled eggs (they dont like the yolks so their chicken daddy eats that!), crushed cheerios, bread pieces, chopped carrots, cooked oatmeal and seedless grapes. The grapes must be seedless. Mine will do ANYTHING for grapes!!!

Just remember moderation in all things. I also try to get them outside every day in their yard to do their chicken thing (as long as it is warm). I always chickensit though to make sure no one escapes and no predators come by. (Hawks and crows have been looking and flying over) Hopefully they will be out in their coop in another couple of weeks.

 

[Gonzo]

There is a difference in the play sand and river (commercial) sand. The play sand is much finer to where the cheap old river stuff is more corse. Works great as grit, and soooo much cheaper!

 

[PetRock]

The first time we gave our chicks yogurt, they wanted nothing to do with it. The next time, I mixed some of their starter food with it and added some finely cut tomatoes. They went crazy over it! Now they think that's what they need every morning! They jump back and forth in their pen making lots of noise until they get their treat. They are so entertaining!