At what age can I feed my chicks table scraps? What should I definately avoid? What is their favorite? Thanks!
Everyone will probably disagree with me here LOL, but I've been giving my chicks tiny amounts of stuff (cooked mac. noodles, bugs, yogurt, cooked egg yolk) since they were 1wk. Sometimes they are into it (bugs), sometimes they are shocked I even tried (mac noodles, yogurt) and snub my gift I know other people recommend waiting until they are older, but I figure if their chicken mom was here they'd be scratching in the dirt and eating all sorts of things. Since I'm their mom, it's up to me! If you give anything except the Chick Starter w/ grit in it, though, you need to give them some seperate grit. Some people suggest you sprinkle their food, I just give them a seperate dish and they take what they need. -Meghan
My chicks are about 10 days old and they've been getting cooked egg yolk since about day 3. They love it. They've also gotten plenty of bugs in their brooder to munch on as well. So I figured if they were eating bugs - a little bit of treats would be ok. Another thing I tried the other day was a few pieces of ripped up clover (along with a little bit of grit) that they turned their noses up at. So I took the scissors to some baby spinach leaves I had and they absolutely go bonkers for that!! I tried a little bit of water melon yesterday and NO WAY were they even giving that a lick!! Also the yogurt thing was a total disaster for me. I put some plain yogurt in a bowl and one stepped right in the bowl, covered her feet with yogurt then proceeded to walk around the brooder sticking pine shavings to that mess!! It looked like she had boots on!! I laughed my head off!! There's probably a better way to introduce yogurt, but I couldn't think of it. Maybe mixed in with their crumbles? It's hard enough keeping their brooder clean without adding something that will sour, so maybe they can try yogurt again when their living in their hen-house. I heard you're supposed to avoid avocado, raw potato/potato peels and rhubarb.
Definetely avoid anything with onions, garlic, or anything with strong flavors, unless you want your eggs tasting like onions.
it's lots of fun watching my girls fight over spaghetti. they love pasta, and strawberries, and dogfood-that they steal when the master isn't looking. hehehe
I have given mine meal worms, rice, boiled egg, grass clippings, bread, and they like the grit for chicks it smells like licorice. I gave one a meal worm last night it ran around like a nascar trying to keep the others from getting her prize.
Get chick grit. It's specially formulated for babies. The stones are pretty small, although there can still be a few larger stones mixed in that you may want to pick out as you don't want a chick to get impacted with too large a stone. Also use it sparingly, sprinkle it like you would pepper or salt. That's what I've been told anyway, and that's what I've been doing and my chicks are doing just fine. I did read that chicks don't regulate grit, like grown chickens do, so you may not want to let them free feed with it. I'm sure some people do with no problems, but I tend to be pretty cautious. I read that chicks don't need grit if they're eating commercially prepared chick starter only. Also I didn't give my chicks grit when they were just having a few bugs and egg yolk, but when I introduced spinach, I did give a little bit of grit so that they can grind that up in their little gizzards.