When can I remove the paper towel covering the shavings?

[4H kids and mom]

My Americana chickies are 8 days old now and I still have paper towel covering their shavings because some of them were trying to eat it. They make the paper towel such a mess, that even with just 27 of them, I'm changing it twice a day. Can anyone tell me how soon they'll stop eating the shavings so they can just be on that without the paper towel? Oh, and is it OK to give them a little finely mashed hard boiled egg now as a treat? My daughter gave a few of them a little yesterday and they LOVED it, but I just wanted to make sure its OK for them to have at this age. (I think I'm spoiling them all ready!)

 

[CarriBrown]

They will eat a little bit of shavings (the whole trial and error thing... my best friend ate cigarettes left on the ground when he was little

) but now that they know what their food is, it's ok to take the paper towels out. Cooked egg is very good for them but you don't want it to be their main food source.

 

[TheBigWRanch]

I would get Canary grit, and give them some everyday. That will help in case they eat the shavings.

 

[pegbo]

Yes remove the paper towels. They say to only use them a couple of days. Make sure your shavings are pretty good size. They won't eat them that way!

 

[bigzio]

4-H Kids and mom, the eggs you are giving your peeps is fine. To spoil so early is something you can't stop once you start. Time to get rid of the paper towels and let them enjoy the shavings. If you could give them some play sand for grit and to have fun in you could spoil them some more.

bigzio

 

[4H kids and mom]

We put an old pie pan filled with canary grit in the brooder today and they went nuts! Oh, it was soooo cute! They were jumping in it and pecking and scratching! Then one (he's our Chicken Duck...lol) decided to roll around in it! He made quite a mess, but he sure had fun! He laid claim and was chasing everyone else away from the dish! He's also the one who chases everyone away from our hands and then stands guard! We are fairly certain he's a he, and my daughter is upset about it. She knows we are only keeping a roo or two and the rest will be dinner, and she's praying he's one we keep. I keep tellin her if he looks like a duck when he's older too we might just have to keep him, because I could cull a chicken if I had to, but dont think I could cull a Duck!

And most probably not our ChickenDuck!

 

[bigzio]

mom, once the kids name a peep and want to save that one I don't think you can change their minds. Besides they won't be able to eat him.

Glad everything is going great!

bigzio