Week Old Chick Eating Dust and Rocks/Sticks???

[Angie09]

So I started taking my week old chick outside for 10-20 minutes each day when it’s warm and he seems to enjoy it. However, I’ve seen him pecking at the ground and assumed he was pecking at bugs and left him be. But today I looked closer and he was actually eating the rocks and sticks?? I thought that he was just playing with them and not actually eating them at first but then i realized that I was wrong. Also whenever I take him out of the brooder to play with him for a bit, he would peck at the dust on the floor?? I don’t know what to do about it

 

[rosemarythyme]

Very normal for chicks to pick up and eat whatever they find, to test to see if it's edible, tasty, etc.

Does he get grit? The "rocks" might be his way of getting grit if you aren't providing any.

 

[currythecockerel]

So I started taking my week old chick outside for 10-20 minutes each day when it’s warm and he seems to enjoy it. However, I’ve seen him pecking at the ground and assumed he was pecking at bugs and left him be. But today I looked closer and he was actually eating the rocks and sticks?? I thought that he was just playing with them and not actually eating them at first but then i realized that I was wrong. Also whenever I take him out of the brooder to play with him for a bit, he would peck at the dust on the floor?? I don’t know what to do about it

This is perfectly normal chicks love to explore their new surroundings and they swallow small rocks and things all the time, it actually helps their digestive system because they don’t have teeth so the hard substance grinds up their food. Chickens can handle eating a lot of things unharmed e.g eggshells or even a small piece of plastic!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t know what to do about it

Let the chick be a chicken. It's just doing what comes natural.

One of the first thing my broody hens do when they bring their chicks off of the nest is take them to a place they can peck at the ground. This accomplishes several things. They get grit in their system so their gizzard can grind up anything they need to grind up. They digest minerals from the dirt. They get bits of things that has nutrients, including dried vegetative material. That can be wood or bits of other plants. If you have other chickens they might get probiotics deposited by the older chickens, not likely in you case. And there might be something in the ground, even if you don't have other chickens, that they need to start working on strengthening their immune system against.

To me, the chicks eating "dirt" is such a benefit that I feed them a small amount of dirt from my run twice a week when I raise them in a brooder.