Treats for Chicks. When? How Much? And what?

[DimondaleBergs]

Hi all.
My chicks are about a week old now. I've been wondering when I can/should start feeding them "treats". And what treats/how much to feed them?

I'm going to go get some chick grit as I have a few that have "poop butt/sticky bottom?" lol

Thanks,

 

[redneck farmer]

Well at that age I cooked up some steamed broccoli ( just plane no butter, salt, pepper or anything like that) an set it in there( large pices of broccoli ) an they tore it up my 5 chickens at 7 days old eat a hole broccoli head in a matter of 3 hours an I gave that to em on Monday. Thursday, sunday

 

[DimondaleBergs]

Thanks! We were actually going to have broccoli for dinner tonight so I'll cook a little extra and try it.

 

[LVchicks]

I tried a few treats here and there but my chicks really didn't want or like anything other than their chick feed until about 3 weeks. They will be 4 weeks tomorrow and there are things they LOVE like hard boiled egg and grapes. When I tried grapes when they were 1 week they could not have cared less. Now a grape causes a pretty wild game of chicken keep-away.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I am new to raising chickens as well as to this forum, but I've read a LOT here, and I have seen people giving their babies treats as early as day 2. My babies are 5 days old, and I've started treats. We have tried yogurt (they didn't like it), boiled egg cut into tiny pieces (they really liked that), and some bugs from the yard including pill bugs (we call them roly poly bugs), worms, termites, and ant larvae. There favorite, amazingly, are the pill bugs! They liked all the bugs, but the pill bugs were their favorite...I think because when they pecked at them they became toys cuz they rolled up into balls . I did give them a huge grub just for fun, but one of the babies tried to swallow it, and I didn't think it would fit down her tiny throat, so I took it back and cut it up into bite sized pieces for everyone to share

. Of course, that was after watching them chase and steal it from each other for about 10 minutes! They were sooo funny, I thought I would pee my pants!

Whatever and when you do decide to start treats, don't forget the grit! I keep two square containers with sand in them...which they have adopted as their beds for sleepy time!




For your poopy butt problem, try adding raw apple cider vinegar to their water...one tablespoon per gallon. Make sure it's raw ACV (it says with the mother on it).

 

[3riverschick]

Hi all.
My chicks are about a week old now. I've been wondering when I can/should start feeding them "treats". And what treats/how much to feed them?

I'm going to go get some chick grit as I have a few that have "poop butt/sticky bottom?" lol

Thanks,

Sprout some oats for them and feed them sprouted oats as "green feed" which are between 4 and 7 days old.
For the hows and science behind this see the BYC thread :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/425134/anybody-raise-sprouts-to-feed-the-chickens
Pages 24 thru 29.
Best,
Karen

 

[DimondaleBergs]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll be trying some of these ideas in the next day or so.