Would this be safe?

[Juise]

I would like to give my chicks a tray of sand to play / bath / eat eventually here, they are only a few days old right now. Is this too early? And also, we live in a freakin sand bowl. Sand everywhere. It's still under snow right now and freezing. Would it be risky to chip some of it up to thaw and dry for them at this age? Or would it be pretty bacteria / pest free because of being below freezing? They are on medicated starter feed.

 

[allieloveschickens]

Sand would probably be okay, though they probably do not need grit yet- and I am not sure if they would actually use it as intended. Probably wouldn't hurt to put in there. I would maybe boil it first to make sure there is nothing that could get them sick though.

 

[caspernc]

I'm raising my first flock on the ground in my coop. I layed down play ground sand and then pine shavings on top of that and then for the first three days I layed down paper towels so they would know what the food was all about. They are now three weeks old and digging around everywhere! Sand, dirt, big dust bath holes........ We are supposed to get up to 70 this weekend and I'm going to take the step of opening the pop door in the afternoon. I have a big piece of card board ready to herd everyone (all thirty-one) back in if need to but I'm thinkin that some scrabled eggs will get everyone back in. Oh yeah they are Barred Rocks AND the smartest chickens in the world!

 

[Juise]

Thanks! I will boil some up and see what they do with it, then

If they are just eating it, I'll leave it out for a while yet.