Why are my chicks eating dirt??

[machinfarm]

Ok, I have 15 white Leghorn (and one golden laced Wyandotte) 1-week old chicks in my brooder. They have chick starter available to them 24/7, plus a few times a day I give them a little scoop of fermented feed which they go crazy for. Yesterday I noticed two of them doing the cute little dust bath shuffle in their food dish, so I decided to give them a little bowl of dirt from our yard to actually dust bathe in (they've been vaccinated against cocci so I assumed this was ok to do, but please tell me if it was a dumb idea). One went over and scratched around and found a 'something' it got excited about, running and cheeping while the others chased it. Looked just like a small dirt clod to me, but what do I know. I thought maybe he found a tiny bug.
Then they all started scratching and pecking at it and I realized they were just EATING it. I thought, ok maybe there's little things in there that they like and once that's gone it'll just be plain dirt and they can use it for a dust bath. I came back about an hour later and 75% of it was gone. I looked around the bowl, moving their shavings aside, and there wasn't a lot kicked out, so they must have actually ingested the lion's share of it.

Do they have some sort of nutritional deficiency that would make them want to eat dirt? They seem fine today, but I can't imagine eating that much dirt is a great thing for them.

 

[junebuggena]

They are picking through the dirt for grit. It's a very normal, healthy thing for chickens of all ages to do. Adult chickens will eat small pebbles for grit. Chickens don't have teeth to grind their food. They swallow bits of dirt and small pebbles that travel down to their gizzard. Then the grit will grind the food down when the gizzard contracts for digestion. They also store food to be digested in their crops. When the crop is full, it looks like a big lump on the chest.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Not a nutritional deficiency.
They need grit.
It helps the gizzard grind up food.

 

[machinfarm]

Oh, ok. Thank you! I feel silly now. Haha, I have actual chick grit but I thought they were too young for it, the bag says start giving it at 3 weeks!

 

[junebuggena]

They don't really need it if they are only being given chick feed. But they will still consume it if given the chance.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It’s not a nutritional deficiency, it’s what they do. They’ll get some grit from it plus some minerals. One of the first things a broody hen teaches her chicks to eat is dirt.

It also helps them develop flock immunities if there are adults in the flock, especially immunity to coccidiosis. The problem with cocci is not that they have that bug in their system, having the bug is necessary so they can develop the immunity they need. The problem comes when the number of those bugs get out of hand. That bug thrives in wet warm ground and dirty water. As long as you keep the water clean and the brooder fairly dry they are unlikely to have an outbreak of cocci just from being exposed to it. It’s still possible so you need to watch for the symptoms, but it is pretty unlikely.

Eating dirt from where the adults have been also gives them any probiotics the adults have. Since you probably don’t have adults they don’t get this benefit. But I feed my brooder raised chicks dirt from the run on their second day in the brooder to get them grit, get them started on flock immunities, and give them probiotics from the adults. My broody hens take care of all this on their own with no help from me, except clean water of course.

A fairly typical scenario on this forum is that the chicks are raised in a brooder in a sterile environment, maybe even fed medicated feed, and are never in contact with the cocci bug. When they hit the ground and are exposed to the cocci bug for the first time they become sick since they have not developed immunity, especially if the run is muddy.

As far as I’m concerned giving them dirt is a very good thing, not something to freak out about. Their immune system will be stronger because of it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's probably #2 grit for adolescents. #1 chick grit is about the size of fine sand. It's for the first 4 weeks of life.

I used to wait till I was feeding things other than chick starter to provide grit. Then one day I moved about 10 chicks to a new unit and on a whim I gave them some #1 grit in a quart chick feeder. It was gone by the end of the day. I've been giving grit to chicks from their start since then.

http://www.tccmaterials.com/product.cfm?id=605

 

[machinfarm]

Ridgerunner, thank you! As a matter of fact, we actually do have semi-adults, 3.5 month old red ranger pullets, plus some 8 week old orpington pullets we got 3 weeks ago, so I will get some dirt from their run for the babies! That's a great tip!
We raised the red rangers from day old chicks and thankfully they were always healthy but I think your idea makes absolute sense so I'll do that for these chicks.
Thanks again!

 

[machinfarm]

It's probably #2 grit for adolescents. #1 chick grit is about the size of fine sand. It's for the first 4 weeks of life.

I used to wait till I was feeding things other than chick starter to provide grit. Then one day I moved about 10 chicks to a new unit and on a whim I gave them some #1 grit in a quart chick feeder. It was gone by the end of the day. I've been giving grit to chicks from their start since then.

http://www.tccmaterials.com/product.cfm?id=605

Yes, I think you're right. This grit is more like couscous than sand! I'll check our feed store for the finer stuff, or just keep giving them dirt! I got this grit at Tractor Supply and they only had two options, chick or adult.

 

[GossChicks]

I was upset that my chicks got so dirty in dirt that I made a sand bath for them with washed sand. They eat it and still go to dirt to “bathe”