What do you use for emergency grit???

[iopele]

Okay, my 5 day old chicks just caught 2 moths, and my son thought it was a great thing so he went out and caught a little beetle and tossed it in to them before I could stop him!

I don't have any real grit around here--what should I put in there? Handful of dirt from my sandy lawn or something? HELP!

(... although he's right... they are awfully cute as they chase each other around for the pieces...)

 

[michellerene]

Sandy dirt should work fine as long as you are sure there are no lawn chemicals of any kind in the dirt. Think about it... if your chicks were outside with mama, they would be eating all kinds of things from day 1!

 

[iopele]

True! Okay, I'll get some sand and put it in there for them... turns out the beetle got away (minus one leg and very traumatized I'm sure!) but I know for sure they ate the moths.

Those are some happy chicks, tho... they went nuts for those bugs!

 

[Poison Ivy]

I gave mine some mealworms & it was so funny the one baby was running around for 2 minutes trying to figure out what to do with it. lol I keep a small litter box of sand in my brooder.

 

[iopele]

Yeah, they were HILARIOUS chasing that poor beetle around! They'd catch it, but have no clue what to do with it. Then all the others would chase the one who had it until it dropped the beetle... which triggered the whole flock to run after the poor beetle again and start the whole thing over!

One thing's for sure--I've been watching them today after that one died to make sure no one else is looking listless... they're all lively, that's for sure!

(whoops, cat sitting by the brooder, should probably go supervise this...)