Whats a good starter "treat"?

[Manda0227]

I'm thinking my girls are ready to try some treats! They're a few days away from being 2 weeks old. They're getting pretty hand tame on their own just by getting used to us, but maybe some extra treats to coax them even more! Whats your favorite thing to give your chickies? I've read about the worms, my yard has millions- I can't WAIT until they're outside, and old enough- they're gonna have a blast! Until then.. Ideas?

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Yogurt, hands down. You can dip your finger in it and use that to teach them that you aren't the Big Scary Hand from above. My babies range from 2-3.5 weeks. I scoop out a bit with my fingers and hold my hand in the brooder. They gather around and gobble it up. It is easy for them to digest and is actually healthy.
Other than yogurt, try mealworms. Mealworms cause a LOT of excitement in the brooder as they grab one and run around screaming. Silly chicks!

Other options- wet crumble, crumbles sprinkled on yogurt, grape bits (or just hold half a grape and let them peck away at it)

 

[saritastar]

Fruit flies! We have a worm compost bin inside for the winter and have a recent fruit fly resergence. As I was vacuuming hundreds of fruit flies out my basement window, I thought "wait a minute, perfect size for chicks!" So, if you are lucky (?) enough to have fruit flies, just squish them enough to keep them from flying. My chicks eat them out of my hand.

 

[bock]

Earthworms are a healthy and fun treat for chickies. Make sure you offer them grit if you feed them anything other than chick crumbles. Have fun!!

 

[AccentOnHakes]

Quote:
You can buy about 100 of flightless ones in a jar from PetSmart.

 

[Chickiemama1010]

quartered grapes and small bits of banana are easy to eat. I give em a bit of grit to be on the safe side. they will take it out of your hand but then watch out...they go wild and crazy with the grab and chase mayhem that follows. Many folks give cooked scrambled egg too as a treat - no salt, no oil, just plain... Mine dont want anything to do with it. They arent interested in yogurt either. Maybe mine are weird. But fruit is always a hit. Whatever you give them, be sure its small pieces and small amounts, and give some chick grit or sand to them too so they dont get bound up.

 

[BethieofVA]

Tried the yogurt, grapes and lettuce, not interested at all. I have tried each twice and they walk on it and poop on it. Great. They are a little over two weeks old, so I will try again soon.

 

[herefordlovinglady]

yogurt and cottage cheese mixed. wow they go crazy over it.

 

[triggfamily5]

I gave mine oatmeal (rolled oats) for the first time yesterday. I coaxed them over to my husbands hand with a red light

Did you know that chicks will chase a red light just like a cat and a dog will??? We have been giving them extra "exercise" from boredom for a little bit each day with it. So last night, when they had no interest in seeing what might have been in the big scary hand, I had them chase the light onto the hand. It took a couple of tries, but once 2 of them realized that there was a new food to munch on, he got attacked. After a while, we just took what was left in the hand and dumped it over a small container of contractors sand (their first grit) and then watched some more chicktv. While doing it, we finally named one of our chicks - Kicker

because is what he/she did A LOT of....

Just try some coaxing, they'll get the hang of it.

 

[triggfamily5]

Quote:
I was wanting to try that at first, but I was scared that was too much calcium. Seems a lot of you use this as a starter treat, so it must be ok...