treats and scraps

Rudibell

In the Brooder
10 Years
Jan 13, 2010
19
0
22
Star Valley, Wyoming
At what age can I start to feed my babies with treats - worms, crickets, oats, bread, yogurt - and table scraps & greens from the garden? They're a week old now and have only had chick crumbles and grit. Thanks
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At a week I start giving the chicks a little greens - very little at first. I like to find chickweed for them- the reason its named that is that chicks love it and its full of nutrients. But leaf lettuce, or any tender greens, even grass is fine. Iceburg lettuce, the kind people call head lettuce is pretty useless stuff- green water basically. Don't feed too much of things like bread or oatmeal - you want them to eat their balanced chick diet to grow well. When they are grown 25 weeks or so- you can add other stuff.
 
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Thanks for the hints. A 'balanced diet', huh? That's what I eat. It will include chicken in 19 weeks
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. So they'll probably get table scraps before too long. Is there anything that's particularly bad for them? I'm planning on taking them off chick starter in 4 weeks and free-ranging them, while providing my own supplemental feed mix.
 
On the subject of greens; are the leaves of home-grown carrots any good for chicks? They seem like they'd be easy to eat due to their soft fronds but I don't have a clue when it comes to their nutritional value.
 
Here's our BYC treats chart:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

Mostly, it's common sense, and whatever you eat. Obviously, go easy on fats and salt, and I wouldn't give them birthday cake. I think when people get in trouble it's from overdoing just one food.

eta Buckles, the treats chart says they like carrot foliage, so it's OK, apparently; I have no idea on the nutrition, though.
 
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Great link! Thanks! I mostly eat homegrown veggies only and try to stay away from the birthday cake - so will my chickens! Last year's batch didn't like the carrot or radish leaves, and I didn't have a problem with avocado shells, didn't know they weren't supposed to have that
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Never give any birds avocados. They are posionous to birds. Carrot tops would be ok- but chickens don't seem to care for them too much - they are nutritious.
 
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I 'm trying something different this year; I'll set up a 10'x 10' garden area just for my chicken's delight. I'll plant veggies that won't need special care such as: Green beans, tomatoes, peas, and carrots. Once the weather cools I'll toss some cabbage and broccli seeds out to grow a quick Fall crop.
 
My 3 month olds are already picky. They gobbled up fresh tomato and some banana I gave them, but they would touch the broccoli or the turnip greens.
 

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