when to start treats?

[BelleInBoots]

Hey guys i have 18 almost 4 week old chicks. wondering at what age we should start treats like kitchen scraps and boss? im thinkin if i offer some grit then soon maybe? also, do i really need to buy chick grit or will the full sized stuff work at this age?

one more question, i have one sweet little "runt" who is MUCH smaller than all the rest, should i be trying to offer her some boiled eggs or something to help her catch up? she pasted up a lot when real little but seems healthy enough now, just really small. i see her pecking through the chips a lot possibly instead of eating straight from the feeder but havent witnessed much bullying so maybe just a preference to forage? thanks for reading!

 

[chickenlover09]

Hi!

Some chicks will refuse to eat anything aside from their normal feed until they start laying, so there's nothing you can do if that happens.

When my chicks were 4 weeks old I gave them their normal feed and about a boiled egg a day (for 6 chicks).

I moved my chicks outside when they were about 5 weeks old (I live by the beach and it never snows or rains here. the weather is always above 70 F during the day.)

When I moved them outside, I would let them free range for about 1 hour every day, and they LOVED digging for bugs and eating plants.


Now, they are about 4 months and 6 months old, and I sometimes throw around some raw corn, lettuce, and apples for them that they enjoy running around for. They also love when I sprinkle dried mealworms around for them.

That is practically all that they will eat right now, but when they all start laying I'm going to throw out all types of kitchen scraps.

Since they are only 4 weeks old, you should buy the chick grit. You can give it to them in a little seperate feeder, but I was always paranoid that my chicks fill up on grit not feed, so I gave them a large handful every day.

 

[mossyroo]

I have some almost 2 week old chicks that jumped on chick grit like it was the greatest thing in the world when I dumped it in the brooder yesterday. They love shredded lettuce but yawn at boiled egg.

 

[Wxguru]

make sure you watch grit consumption. They don't need to get too much of it. I started giving treats at a couple days old (in the form of a mashed up boiled egg. It is now the equivalent to crack cocaine for them based on how they react when they see it)

 

[BelleInBoots]

yeah i ended up putting it in a separate little feeder but they have consumed very little of it it so it appears that they are self regulating. I have introduced sprouted grain/ young fodder and they go crazy for it theyve come to expect it each morning and when i was late this morning they were makin a big fuss lookin for it, lol.

 

[shorttimer]

Tonight, before they went into their Mama heating pad chicken cave, I threw in a few mealworms and they just went brazerk! I didn't know if they would recognize them, but I guess it's programed in to their brains. I think they're about a week old on the young ones & 5 weeks on the old ones. The older ones wouldn't come get them from my hand, but the young ones would come right up & grab. When one chick got a worm the others would chase it around. My only question is if it was too early to give mealworms to young chicks?

 

[krisirose]

I gave my week old (I think that's their age) a slice of zucchini and a hard boiled egg to share between 6 of them. They were nervous at first, but now they're all eating vigorously. An hour later, it's all only about 1/10 gone. They seem to love it, and don't eat very quickly. I was wondering if this was ok. I mainly wanted the egg in there for the runt, and she (?) Was the first to go at it, so that's good! One of the other chicks just keeps standing in the food.

 

[chickienewbie88]

I have 6 4 week old GLWs and just started them on treats.. we have always offered very small amounts of a treat i found at TSC called "baby cakes" that you can feed very young chicks without them needing grit. Then 2 weeks ago i gave them a sand bath.. instead of bathing, though, they eat it for grit so that tells me theyre ready for something new. I got a few worms out of the yard and they did the chase game.. love them.. so i got them some Garden Delight treat mix by Manna Pro, since i know theyre all gritted up now.. THEY LOVE IT and seem to be just thriving.. so i think if you watch your flock closely enough, theyll tell you when theyre ready

 

[kimc83]

I bought a batch of red wiggler (composting) worms so that eventually I will have reproducing treats! The chicks (about 7 wks) seem to like regular earthworms that they find better than the red wigglers, which are smaller. Has anyone had any experience with red wigglers? The worms are easy to take care of so no problems there and have great cast offs for the garden.

 

[nuchickontheblock]

We just got 10 week old chicks from a family member. They are on a mix of chick starter and layer crumbles, but haven't had any treats yet. It sounds like we can start some meal worms. What about cracked corn and boss? When can they start with those treats?