What food without grit?

[MattalynsBarn]

I have 9, 11 day old chicks, and we don't give them grit.

1) is this ok?
2) what treats can you give them without grit?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Anything you can eat without needing to use your teeth to chew they can eat without grit.

But at 11 days old the treats should be minimal at best. At that age I feed rolled oats every other day to encourage them to keep their bedding turned up and fluffy and finely chopped green feed (cabbage) once a day. Only as much as they can clean up in about fifteen minutes or so. They need to be getting most of their nutrition from the chick starter.

 

[MattalynsBarn]

Okay, thanks! So if one is being extra good I could give her a spoonful of yogurt?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Yogurt is fine. Some folks report their birds won't eat it straight, others have no problem. Mixing it with a bit of their starter feed might encourage them to eat it better. Just don't give them a lot at any one time.

 

[Wynette]

Nothing wrong with offering chick grit, though, if you are giving treats. Any sort of roughage, they'll need grit for (rolled oats, greens, finely chopped veggies, etc. - they need grit). Mashed up bananas and yogurt are fine treats that do not need grit. However, A.T. is 100% correct in that they should be eating chick starter as the majority of their diet. It's got everything they need for the tough growth phase they are in! Enjoy your babies!

 

[MattalynsBarn]

I haven't fed them anything but starter feed, and don't plan on feeding them anything else for a while, but it's always good to know!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Quote:
I've fed green feed and rolled oats to hundreds of chicks in the brooder and have never found a lack of grit to be a problem. Perfectly normal looking droppings.

Now oat groats, steel cut oats, pretty much any largely intact grains would need grit. They're not going to soften enough simply by soaking in water to digest well. Rolled oats are partially steamed before they rolled so can be eaten as-is.