Treats treats treats

[Bltn24]

Just wondering what some of the best treats for baby chics. Brought 7 home Saturday I've given them yogurt, bread, corn on the cob and night crawlers.

 

[pibb]

How old are they?

Are you giving them chick grit?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Are they newly hatched chicks? Go mighty easy on treats, when they're so small their tummies can only hold so much, so you don't want to dilute the nutrition in the feed with too many treats.

And yes they'll need chick grit to help break down most of these treats.

 

[Bltn24]

How old are they?

Are you giving them chick grit?

Yes I'm giving them chick grit. They are 5 day's old. Yogurt, boiled eggs and some bread. That's what I've given them.

 

[pibb]

I always waited until they got out of the brooder and then some before I gave any treats. I do give them chick grit in the brooder because of the ladybugs and such that might get eaten.

 

[thomas_trevett]

I've been giving my girls corn on the cob and watermelon while they are in the chicken tractor from approximately 3 weeks on. I've been giving them chick grit since 2 weeks old. They've done fine with both of those. They LOVE corn on the cob, it's just really fun to watch how happy they get when they see it. Good to know how to get their attention to follow me as well if needed.

 

[Acre4Me]

No treats is the best for baby chicks.

Keep in mind that for a full grown chicken. Treats should be no more than 10% of their diet. A grown chicken eats around 1/4 - 1/3 of a pound of feed. So, 4-5 ounces. 10 percent of that is approximately a tablespoon of treats for a full grown bird.

do my birds get treat? Yes, but often it is feed mash (feed with water mixed to batter consistency). Then I add seeds on top or fruit or veg. The treat is 90% feed, 10% treat but the love/adore/fight over wet feed. A couple of days ago, I had leftover colored Easter eggs. They got chopped up (shell and all) and fed to the birds -certainly more than a tablespoon per bird, but they don’t get treats every day and eggs are higher in protein and nutrients. My kid pulls handfuls of grass Or weeds or marigold flowers to toss in their run too, which they love.

Basically, when giving treats don’t overdo it and keep in mind nutritional value.

FWIW, I recently bought a feed that looks like scratch. My goal was to use this as scratch - which they get when I call them back into the run. So it is miscellaneous grains with some fortified pellets, that looked like the grains. The girls love it! But,what is the very last thing that is eaten in this mix? The fortified pellets! Chickens (like kids) eat the yummy junk food portion first.