treats and "regular feed"

[crystal94040]

when can they have treats? and when do they start needing regular feed? right now my 7 chicks are a week old and they just ran out of starter/grower....I'm off to the feed store but I thought maybe I should ask first.

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

How old are they? They will need to stay on starter/grower until they begin to lay then switch to layer feed. If you want to give them treats....you need to provide grit for them to digest it.

 

[crystal94040]

they are 1 week old today....guess I'll stock up on starter/grower then! and I'll pick up some grit too...I was thinking about letting them out in the yard for a few minutes today, to see how they like it.

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

Wow...only a week? If it were me I'd wait a while...like 3-4 wks.

 

[allen wranch]

For seven chicks, you don't need to stock up a large amount of feed. It can go bad and get bugs, which is not good for the chicks.

There are several threads here and in the Feeding Time section about treats that may be helpful.

 

[Chelly]

I took mine out at a week or so and they LOVED it - they right away started the dust bathing thing - it was really cute!
We built a safe place for them and by two weeks they were going out every day - they started eating grasshoppers and having a blast! I felt bad when I had to keep them in because of cold, rain or wind. I also introduced them to a little roost/perch at that age.
Mine are now 6 weeks and live outside, they roost like champs and just LOVE it out there....

 

[JenniferJoIN]

Mine are 2 weeks old today and did the 'dust bath' thing a couple of days ago. I've been putting a little dirt in their cage for about a week, but they weren't really interested in it until Sunday.

I had read somewhere to put grass clippings in the cage to give them something to play with, so I did that when they were about a week old, but then I was told to put grit in or else they would have a impacted crop They are also doing the 'roosting' thing a little... but they keep trying to lay over on the roost, which leads to them falling off.

So dust, grit, and grass are the only 'treats' I've given my chicks so far.

 

[allen wranch]

Grass clippings are not the best thing to give chicks or adult birds either because of impacted crop.

When chickens normally range they pick a little grass off, scratch in the dirt, find a bug, eat a little more grass, move around, etc.

With grass clippings in a cage or run, especially long pieces, they tend to keep eating them until they lodge in the crop.

If you want to give them grass, throw in some clumps with the dirt still intact. They love digging through the dirt to see what goodies are there, and they can pick pieces of grass off themselves.

Anytime you add anything to their diet that is not commercial chicken food, you need to add some grit. This can be coarse sand sprinkled on their food or the small parrot grit from the feed store.

 

[JenniferJoIN]

Dang the bad advice I read!

 

[crystal94040]

I took them out on the lawn but they were'nt intrested in eating anything, they did chase a lone ant around for a minute...lol...they just walked around for a little while and then I took them back inside.
I did'nt get any grit so I did'nt give them anything besides the regular feed....I bought a 50lb bag! They eat ALOT though so hopefully it was worth it.
We just put the shingles on the roof of the hen house....it's HUGE.
We are putting the posts in for the fence so maybe I'll give them some yard time in a week or two.
Oh and they are starting to flap around like they want to fly....too cute.