Ok, everyone is welcome to correct me when (not if, lol) I'm wrong.
Think of scratch feed as chicken candy. The baby food and laying pellets have most everything they need. As Winter comes, feed them a little scratch to help them put on weight to have adequate body fat for the cold weather. Read the packages of your brand of feed. They will tell you how long to feed the starter feed and when to switch to grower or layer food.
For grit, go to a pet store and get bird grit. Since we have babies, the canary size is a better choice than parrot size grit. The brand I got has tiny pieces of charcoal, which is good for their digestion.
As for other treats, what do you like? Unless something is rotten, let them try what you are eating. No chicken products, as this could lead to some weird disease. (Mad cow is supposed to have been passed around because cows were being feed beef by-products.) Eat more fresh stuff, it's better for you and your birds. Your chickens should get all your vegetable peels (except maybe potatoes). My chickens don't care if the grapes are starting to look like raisins. Stale breakfast cereal is a hit, as is prepared rice (not uncooked, it will swell when they drink water).
Just remember that as you grow tired of eating something, they will too. Last Summer I swear they were saying "Tomatoes AGAIN? What are you thinking, Mama?" I was cleaning up the tomatoes from the old house's garden so the wild bunnies would have to go some place else for the free buffet. The chickens got all the spots that were bunny-bit, bird-pecked, or probable worm-eaten. Apparently a month of tomatoes was just too much.
My babies are about three weeks old and they enjoy the ants we have here. (NOT fireants, thank GOD!) Between the ants and the grass seed, they have a wild time outside. With it as hot as it is, I only allow them to stay out an hour or so.
Hope this helps some!
