Playsand?

[CritterHill]

Chickies are 4 weeks old today. I decided to put a big bowl with playsand from the sandbox in their brooder to give them something to dust bathe in, but they seem to be eating the sand?

I did give them a bowl of bird grit a few days ago since I had started to give them treats - scrambled egg, dandelion from my garden with roots and dirt, the occasional inchworm.

So I can only imagine them eating a little playsand is ok, but it is much more finely ground than the grit, and I just need something to worry about.

I also saw one of them just opening and closing her beak - no sound coming out (though she chirped bloody murder when I picked her up). She seems to have stopped, but it made me wonder...

 

[Cetawin]

I would think they will settle down the eating of it once they get used to it...now the content of the sand is something I am unsure of as far as toxicity.

The opening the mouth and not making a sound, is that one also stretching her neck out as she does this?

If so, that is normal behavior to ocassionally to that.

 

[Velociraptor]

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[Barnyard Dawg]

Our chick house has sand in the pen area they love it plus it gives them the grit they need.