Question about bug feeding+grit

[fluffpuffgerbil]

First off, my chicks are getting so big after only three days! Lacey, my biggest(is currently snuggling into the back of my neck...) loves to use her wings whenever she can. She'll jump from my hand to my shoulder or to my head and she and many other chicks are starting to get their tail feathers in. Mostly all of them have good development on their wings and are all flapping around, They're even perching on the small wooden dowel roosts I put in their brooder.

But my question is, when can I give them bugs? I know most people feed theirs mealworms, but I have a TON of dubia roaches which I breed for my lizards and they come in all sizes, have less of a shell to meat ratio than mealworms and are all around a healthier bug(and I know chickens can have them) . My question is, can I go ahead and give them a few as treats? And do I need grit to help them digest the bugs? If you don't need grit for mealworms, I doubt you'd need grit for dubia roaches, but I don't know if you're supposed to give them grit with mealies anyway.... and I don't have any grit. You can just use sand right? I'm going to lowes this weekend to get supplies for their temp hoop coop, and could always pick up a bag of sand there if the washed play sand is all you have to give them. I know you need grit for greens and stuff, but I wasn't sure with bugs.(and for those of you who don't know what dubia roaches look like, the nymphs, or babies, look like pill bugs)

 

[Alaskan]

I would think that if chicks are fed anything besides chicken crumbles, that they will need grit.

I would just scoop up a bit of garden dirt, some that has sandy bits in it, and put that in a tiny dish in their cage.

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I was doing some more research earlier and since my dad was headed to lowes to get some stuff to fix up a rabbit hutch for our new rabbit, I had him get some contractor's sand. I ended up filling up a 6qt rubbermaid bin with less than 1/2" of sand so they can eat it when they need to and also so they can dustbathe since they seem to be trying to do that on the carpet, on towels, and on any floor surface whenever I let them out. They are a bit freaked out by it right now, but I think they'll get used to it eventually.