when to "treat"

[chickenbythesea]

when can you start giving your chicks treats... say meal worms, kitchen scraps etc? I would love to start giving them treats/ something to look forward to when I come out to the coop. I see lots of ideas for what to give them, ie: yogurt, lettuce, grapes, watermelon etc but how early can you start doing this? thanks

 

[ILuvMyPetChickens]

I started giving mine bread when they were just about ready to go outside.

 

[NickyPick]

I started giving mine mashed boiled egg yolk at 1 week. Added oatmeal around 3 weeks and meal worms and other stuff at 6 weeks. They still come running when they see me with the treat plates.

 

[mljohnson05]

small amounts of plain yogurt (natural cultures in it) at a few days old, mashes eggs (or scrambled) I did at 1-2 weeks of age, puree fresh fruit (I puree my self) and oatmeal at 4 weeks and the other good stuff at 6 weeks

 

[billfields]

I kinda worked on the WWMHD --What Would Momma Hen Do--principle. From about 2 or 3 days old she would kinda lead them around and let them eat what she found in the dirt.

So I figured their constitutions couldn't be that delicate. I gave mine boiled eggs, chopped clover grass and lettuce and cooked spaghetti (faux worms) when they were less than a week old. I added thawed frozen corn (faux bugs) a week or so later and then kinda went from there trying whatever was around the kitchen. They pretty much eat anything. And they consider anything people hand them that didn't come out of the long red feeder a treat. (I did give them grit which I think is important if you are giving anything other than their crumble.)I did buy one bag of those dried meal worms but while they eagerly ate them, they ate the other stuff just as eagerly. One bag of the worms cost the same as 25 lb of their regular food so now that the bag is gone, dried meal worms will be just a happy memory. Last week when they were 6 weeks old I started giving them scratch as a treat --they eat it eagerly, big surprise

Now that the outside run is done their new favorite snack, along with whatever they find in the dirt,

is lightening bugs. Like kids, they chase 'em until bedtime. Also like any kid who just had to try it, (and you know we all did it once) they too seem to spit out the glowey part.

 

[tclegg]

Quote:

pik out the glowey part--when they start running around with them on as earrings I'm out of here...lol