What is safe for feeding

[A Lucky Ladybug]

I have week old chicks and was thinking of giving them mealworms since we have tiny ones for our bearded dragons. Is this ok?

 

[justplainbatty]

I have week old chicks and was thinking of giving them mealworms since we have tiny ones for our bearded dragons. Is this ok?

*If it were me* I would wait until 4 weeks. They grow so fast, they need all the nutrients in their chick starter. Meal worms are good high protein snacks for chickens and at 4 weeks and older it is fine if they get a few a couple days a week.

 

[PapaChaz]

my chicks are 3 weeks old tomorrow. I've been giving them a small pile of 7 or eight meal worms every couple of days. all they do is EAT EAT EAT......i'm relatively sure I'm not keeping them from getting all the nutrients they need from the food. I do put probiotics and electrolytes in their water though

 

[A Lucky Ladybug]

Mine are crazy eating nonstop! And they are only ten days old but these are our first Chicks

 

[Mister B]

Mine will eat themselves silly. I keep their food in a metal sliding feeder, the long narrow type with the slots across the top. I have to fill it up twice a day some times.

 

[Blooie]

I think the eating thing is another reason I like brooding with a heating pad. They go to bed when the sun goes down, and wake up hungry and ready to eat when they wake up in the morning. At first I worried a little bit about that - I thought eating 24/7 was normal for chicks. Then I saw our first broody with her chick. He went to bed when she did, got up when she did, and ate all kinds of stuff in the yard right along with her. He was especially fond of ants, if he could catch them! She didn't get up all night long and feed him, and he knew from day one that once they were settled down for the night he was supposed to sleep.

From my personal standpoint, I think I was over-thinking this whole raising chicks thing. There are are so many "you must absolutely" and "you must nevers" out there that I didn't even enjoy having the chicks around as much as I could have. I just worried about every little thing. I put a little clump of dirt from the yard in with the new babies and they love to peck at that. I believe Bee when she says that it helps build their immunities. It also gives them something to do besides peck at each other and provides small bits of grit. Mama Hen isn't out there chopping stuff up for them, telling them to stay out of the dirt, and keeping bugs away from them.

As it turns out, this batch of chicks is thriving much better than the previous where I hovered and fussed over them all of the time.

 

[Mister B]

I 100% agree with you Blooie. I think there are way too many "Nevers" given for raising chickens. There are probably some things you shouldn't do, and they may do better if you don;t do this or that. But, one thing I learned is that these are my chickens and the Chicken Police will not show up if I feed my hens some Wild birdseed instead of scratch or if they drink out of a mud hole instead of the nice clean water I provide (which they do, stupid birds, lol)