so many questions!! can someone HELP me?? :)

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luvmychickiez

luvmychickiez

Hatching
6 Years
Sep 24, 2013
2
0
9
Harlingen, TX
Hi there! I'm Klaryy. Everyone who knows me, knows I love my chickens.. I recently got Four baby chIcks. They r now about 3 weeks old. I do live in the city and I have a nice size yard. I built a temporary chicken coop for them but going to need a more permanent coop soon.

everyday I take them out for about an hour and let them roam free in front of me. I have been noticing that they r trying to take a dIrt bath but my dirt is very dry and hard so they just lay on top of it..
what should I do?
should I turn the dirt and loosen it up or is it fine like that?

ALSO how long are you supposed to be having them on chicken starter?
AND when do I know I can start giving them chicken Scratch??

Im semI new to thIs and I reeeeeally love them I want to do everythIng thats best for them so ANY AND ALL HELP IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!! THANK YU!!! :) :) :)
 
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Almost everyone here is a chicken enthusiast as well.
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If your chicks aren't able to roll dirt on themselves I would loosen the soil. I feed my chicks chick starter until they finish the whole bag but I started mixing some grower feed at 9 weeks and now at 10 weeks they are completely on grower feed. They don't even touch the chick starter anymore.
 
Welcome to BYC
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Glad you joined us. x2 the above, I also dig over patches for my chickens to bath in when the soil gets too hard/compacted. They will thank you for it! You can do as suggested with the starter > grower switch, anytime you're ready, switch them. In the scratch, you can feed them a little bit now, but not too much, just a small amount now and then. Scratch is like candy for chickens, they love it and will gorge themselves given the opportunity.
 
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chickens love dust bathing as much as wild birds do. If your soil is too hard maybe you have a large pan, old sandbox etc, they could use. Put sand and any loose dirt you can find and maybe some fireplace ash in it and let them have a go at it.
 

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