I laughed at the idea that a pea is a choking hazard. Whoever wrote it has clearly never seen a chicken swallow a shrew/frog/fledgling etc.
Yesterday, Dusty caught a big grasshopper or locust and gave it to 16 day old Slash. Well, I'm not sure exactly what kind of bug it was except it was about half the size of the chick, but by the time I got close enough to check it out, Slash was headbashing pieces of it against the gravel with his little beak to break it up into pieces -- crunchy pieces -- much bigger than a split pea and then swallow them. A little while later, Slash took a five minute "digestion break" and was back at foraging with mum.
Of all the chicks raised here, Slash is getting the most wild and varied diet. The last four chicks that hatched in August -- all big strapping long-legged cockerels now, were offered starter pellets for their first week or so, but mums Dusty and Tina largely ignored it. I suppose because they don't eat commercial feed themselves, they don't really recognize it as food...? When I saw them leaving the starter feed, I gave them a more finely ground fermented mash mix and they ate that. But mainly they ate what their mums foraged for them.
Slash is the first chick here not to eat (or be offered) any commercial starter at all. And for the first ten days of the chick's life, Dusty ignored anything out of hand except a few bits of cheese and boiled egg. She forages all day with Slash, from 6am to 6pm. Slash ate mostly small insects and some tiny wild grass seeds the first week of life. At five or six days old, the chick was catching his own bugs. About five days ago, Dusty began to eat fermented mash again herself and indicated to Slash that it was good to eat. I was a bit worried about the wheat berries being too large, but they were the first thing Dusty picked out for Slash to eat, followed by the sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and oats, then the maize last, which they usually leave some on the ground.
I do not and have never provided "chick grit" which I've read is necessary for chicks eating anything other than commercial starter feed or soft cooked eggs. There's "grit" in the earth they peck at all day long apparently. Imagine that.
Interesting note: in the arguments I've read in favor of homogenized commercial feed, some people claim that chickens love corn/maize and will eat that and not the other grains/seeds, which is bad for then and causes all sorts of health problems, fatty liver and so on. Which is a legit concern -- if the chickens did actually eat only corn.
In eight months of offering my chickens a fermented grain/seed mix that is about 25% corn/maize, I have yet to see them eat only that. They eat everything. Also, I think because I mix in split pea flour before serving, it serves the glob the grains and seeds together into clumps. In their haste to stuff their sweet little crops, the chickens just scarf down the clumps and I never see anyone -- besides the broodies/mums -- picking out this or that.
Slash at 16 days old. Seems to be growing developing fine. Hard to get clear pics --he/she is always in motion.
13 week old cockerels Dusty raised. They ate very little commercial starter in their first week, then went to fermented feed and forage. I call them Milli Vanilli. They are always together, just starting to spar. High jumpers with acrobatic kung-fu fighting techniques (like Lucio) unlike shorties Toby and Segundo who tussled on the ground like sumo wrestlers -- and actually hurt each other. These fellas seem more like they are showing off their flashy flying.
I was going to get some at the grocery store tomorrow, along with some more fish (funny how they do not seem to go off the fish. LOL) The egg thief says they are spoiled, but it is a bit like the kettle to the pot. ;-)
