my chicks are looking for something on the bottom of there brooder. could they be looking grit? i don't know if i should be giving it to them yet?they are two weeks old i just afraid there going to eat shavings.
My chicks did the same thing. In fact one of my chickies started scratching at the bottom of the brooder at just 3 days old. I was giving them grit early on, but only because I was feeding them teeny tiny treats.
You really don't need to provide grit unless you are feeding them something other than their starter feed. It doesn't hurt to feed them grit though. In fact if anything I think I've been mixing too much grit with their starter feed. They are pretty resilient little creatures.
They are just doing what comes naturally. They are practicing their "scratch skills". This will come in handy when they are in the run outside. It's really funny when they start to "dust bath" in the shavings!
My little Silkies are various ages, the oldest one is about 12 to 14 weeks old and the others are little chicks still...maybe about 6-8 weeks old. I have fed them a commercial starter grower feed since I got them, but yesterday I put them inside a large fence enclosure to peck around in the grass and flower gardens and they were eating quite a bit of 'stuff', so I got some sand and put some clumps of it on the ground - it was damp from the rain, and they started eating it like they were starving. They must have really needed it.
isn't it so cute when the babies start to "scratch" our started doing it this week. I put them in their play yard, toss in some food & grit and let'em go for a while.. they're too cute!