What do you feed them??

[Anna kate]

We just got 4 baby chicks we named them fed then and gave them water. We are keeping them in a tin bucket with no lid and wood chips/bedding on the bottom of the bucket. To eat we are giving them chicken feed is there anything else anyone recommends for feeding them we looked online and it said you can give them egg whites would that be ok?

 

[Crazychickennurse]

Honestly, they really don’t need anything besides chick feed (that’s what you have, right? Chick starter feed?).

 

[Anna kate]

Thanks so much! Yes we are giving them chick starter feed.

 

[wamtazlady]

That bucket does not seem very large. Can the chicks get away from the heat if they get too hot? Are the metal sides of that bucket heating up so that the chicks could get burned? There should be an area that is 15 degrees cooler where they can cool off. Just recently someone had chickens in a plastic tote and they were showing signs of overheating even though the temperature was where the people thought it should be. They moved the chicks to a tote that was twice as large. The chicks could cool off and they were fine. In a set up like you have a regular light bulb would probably be more than enough to keep the chicks warm. That is what I used years ago with my first batch of chicks. I put a shop light over the container and the chicks did great. You do not want to cook them.

 

[rosemarythyme]

That bucket does not seem very large. Can the chicks get away from the heat if they get too hot?

x2, the bucket is way too small and bedding too sparse. A metal floor can be slippery so needs to stay covered up. Also a couple other things:

- elevate the feeder and waterer on some bricks, see how they're just sinking into the shavings? That'll lead to damp shavings and no drinkable water.
- if using eggs as a treat, the yolk is the really nutritious part, so I'd either feed whole cooked eggs, finely chopped, or just the yolk.