Scared of an ANT.......

[Qi Chicken]

I watched them for about half an hour. I really thought it was going to live, even with 16 8 day olds all staring at it. But no, finally someone ate it. ALthough s/he carried it around for quite awhile. So if they are going to be eating stray bugs that fall in they probably need grit. A ladybug fell in there the other day but I thought those were poisonous so I took it out. There are probably others I don't know about though. As for the GRIT>>>>>>>>>>>>

Do you sprinkle it on their food?

Put in a little bowl separately?

There is a lot of wing flappin, chest bumpin craziness in there. I think they need entertainment. Any ideas??

P.S. Two of the babies tried to roost tonight. They think they are so grown up!

 

[QuackerOats]

Ohhh ants! I had an "ant situation" a few days ago. My mum and I were outside with the chicks and a MASSIVE ant crawled onto my mums slipper. I told her about it and she shook it off. It landed in front of a chick and the chick stared at it for a moment then gulped it down like it was nothing!!!

We nearly fainted laughing!

We didn't expect them to eat something so big!

As for the grit. I sprinkle some in their food. I also occasionally sprinkle a few grains of grit on the floor of their cage before going outside, so I know they are eating it. To digest those unsuspecting ants!

 

[Qi Chicken]

Yes, this was one of those giant black ones. They are big! Glad your chickens enjoyed the treat. So just sprinkle some on the food? A little? A lot? They are in with pine shavings so unless it tastes like food to them they might not go looking for it??

 

[Want Less]

My babies were getting bored too so I shredded up a little cabbage (I saved the outer leaves from both red & green when I made massive amounts of coleslaw recently) and tossed a few skinny strips in the brooder with the chicks... oh, keep away games galore!

 

[Want Less]

Oh... and as for roosting... mine live in a big aquarium in our living room and when they first started to roost, my husband and I nearly fell on the floor laughing when one attempted to sleep on the roost and fell off backwards. She was fine, but I was crying because I was laughing so hard...

Gatta love'em!

 

[nlove_3000]

The bag of chick grit that I bought at the feed store has suggestions for how much to use. It said to use 1lb of grit for every 20bs of feed. I usually use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the feed into the feeders, so I first take a scoop of grit and throw it on top of the feed, and then swish it around with the food. It shouldn't overtake the food, but it should be noticeable.

 

[Qi Chicken]

thanks everybody. Our feedstore only has #2 grit for bigger chickens so I think I'll get sand out of the playground and pour boiling water over it. Or I could get parakeet grit from Walmart on Thursday. I'll follow the directions I guess. I think we got a 5 pound bag of starter and they are already half way through it. I got tired of throwing the food with shavings in it away so I covered the old food with new. Is this bad?

I didn't know math would be involved............1 pound to every 20 pounds feed. 5 pounds feed divided by 12? ( the number of times I think I can fill my feeder with the food) how many cups in a pound. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I can feel my brain exploding!!! I think I'll just give them some sand in a cup and some in their food. ACKKK. They should tell you in school that math skills DO actually make your life easier!! And I thought they were just teasing me changing the value of x all the time.

As for the cabbage, I read that they would do that with a little piece of newspaper. I tried that and they all acted like it was from outer space. They looked at it but not much else. Any chance that I have stupid chickens?? I can't wait till we get the grit going and can give them treats. They are getting big enough that they try to flap themselves away if you try to hold them. I feed them, water them, love them, heat them and they can't even give me a chicken snuggle. Ingrates!

 

[Want Less]

Quote:
Why do you pour boiling water over the sand?

 

[drumstick diva]

I would imagine she would pour boiling water over the sand to sanitize it.

 

[Want Less]

Quote:
Oh, ok, that makes sense!