What are good treats for my chickens?

[MaMaher]

How old do they have to be before I can start giving them treats? I'd like to start giving them goodies from the garden, but we only bought them a week ago.

 

[lazy gardener]

Start with a plug of sod from untreated lawn, or even a dish of soil. They need grit in their system before getting any other "treats".

 

[MaMaher]

Thank you! My yard looks like the Mojave Desert. Maybe I'll just buy some grit. However, they will be out there eventually, so maybe it's better to give them some of that dirt so they can get used to it.

 

[jeria]

or chick grit

 

[mclanea]

I dump anything I'm pruning from the garden in their part of the yard and give them a shot at it. Today they ate a bunch of cherry tomatoes and zucchini. I have a couple hens that watch me weed the garden waiting for me to toss something no over the fence for them. Besides that they love anything from the kitchen really. All leftover food, non-meat, either goes in the compost bin or to the chickens.

 

[MaMaher]

I dump anything I'm pruning from the garden in their part of the yard and give them a shot at it. Today they ate a bunch of cherry tomatoes and zucchini. I have a couple hens that watch me weed the garden waiting for me to toss something no over the fence for them. Besides that they love anything from the kitchen really. All leftover food, non-meat, either goes in the compost bin or to the chickens.

Even week old chicks? It's not so much what I can give them for treats as when I can start giving them treats... I think it's super cute that your chicken watches you and waits for the goods...haha They are so funny and inquisitive!

 

[mclanea]

Even week old chicks? It's not so much what I can give them for treats as when I can start giving them treats... I think it's super cute that your chicken watches you and waits for the goods...haha They are so funny and inquisitive!

Oh, sorry. I don't give treats until they are out of the brooder and in the coop/run/free range at like 6 weeks.

Prior to that their "treat" is small doses of free ranging.

 

[MaMaher]

Oh, sorry. I don't give treats until they are out of the brooder and in the coop/run/free range at like 6 weeks.

Prior to that their "treat" is small doses of free ranging.

OH! hahaha....they get to adventure out! Cool! At what age do you let them dabble at free ranging?

 

[mclanea]

OH! hahaha....they get to adventure out! Cool! At what age do you let them dabble at free ranging?

I lock up the olders and give them some supervised yard time starting early... like a week or so. At first it's just putting them in a box in the yard. Then when they figure out how to get out of the box I widen their range little by little. By about 4-5 weeks I let them out in the yard "by themselves" for an hour or so at a time... my office looks out onto the yard. And I start letting them mix with the older ones starting at about 3 weeks. (This last year the older 3 hung out under the brooder all day, was kind of cute.

 

[MaMaher]

I lock up the olders and give them some supervised yard time starting early... like a week or so. At first it's just putting them in a box in the yard. Then when they figure out how to get out of the box I widen their range little by little. By about 4-5 weeks I let them out in the yard "by themselves" for an hour or so at a time... my office looks out onto the yard. And I start letting them mix with the older ones starting at about 3 weeks. (This last year the older 3 hung out under the brooder all day, was kind of cute.

That's awesome. I bought 4 "day old" chicks about 3 weeks ago. Two are definitely older. I put them in a plastic baby pool with pine shavings in it one warm day to let them experience the outdoors, but they didn't touch the ground. I heard it's good that they touch the dirt to expose them to coccidiosis just so they can build up immunity. But I thought the little ones were too little yet. Maybe they are old enough now. I just don't have anything to reign them in with and don't want them to go too far from me.