Grit and Treats (first time)

[JacksFlock24]

Hey all,

I have four week old chicks and want to give them some treats for the first time. They have had nothing but chick starter since they were hatched. Except for days 3-5 when I offered grit until I read the package of their starter crumbles and said feed this and nothing else (so I removed the grit).
I bought a bag of grubblies black soldier fly larvae and I also have the chick grit I tried for the first two days and removed. I am wondering, do the chicks automatically know what to do with the grit? Should I add it to their food? I have seen mixed answers on this. And what about the treats, how do I know if they are too big for them to bite or handle? Do they need to be broken up?

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

You don't need to add it to the feed. Just provide them a different dish of it or put it in like a cardboard tray if you want them to dustbathe in it. That's rather hilarious.

Four to six weeks is a good age to start introducing treats, and then provide the grit. Do it every sparingly, though, as their systems aren't used to anything else, and you want to make sure they all tolerate it well.

Scrambled eggs are another great and healthy treat for them, which is about the only treat I give mine until they are outside.

For when they're older, they get Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve for scratch. They're all on regular Kalmbach's Flock Maker crumbles from chick to adult. The adults of laying age get a dish of oyster shell on the side.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You can provide grit in a dish, or a small pinch on their food (I do the latter, to prevent any risk of gorging on grit). I provide grit immediately as my birds eat whatever they can get their beaks on.

For the first few days I'd break up the BSFL to make it easier for the chicks to eat, but likely they can handle them just fine at this age.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have four week old chicks and want to give them some treats for the first time. They have had nothing but chick starter since they were hatched. Except for days 3-5 when I offered grit until I read the package of their starter crumbles and said feed this and nothing else (so I removed the grit).

The chick starter is a balanced diet for them. It contains all the nutrients they need to grow and be healthy. They don't need any treats. But as long as their regular feed remains their primary diet it will not hurt them to have occasional treats. As far as I know there is no real science behind it but we generally go by keeping any treats to less than 10% of their daily diet. That generally means what they can clean up in 10 to 20 minutes.

I don't know what specific feed brand you are feeding or how they phrased it but an accurate way is that they don't need anything else. That feed by itself is sufficient. As long as you keep it within limits something else will not hurt them. It's something like a growing child can occasionally have a bit of ice cream as long as ice cream is not part of their main diet.

Chickens don't have teeth but they sometimes eat things that need to be ground up. So they swallow bits of gravel and store those in their gizzards where hard stuff is ground up. Chicken feed has already been ground up so they do not need grit to process it but they need grit for a lot of other things. Mine get grit from the soil but many people buy grit for them. That grit is granite, sifted from the rubble of a granite quarry. That can last weeks in their gizzard. Softer rocks can be ground up in a matter of days.

Some people say they mix grit with their food or with oyster shells. I don't understand their logic. I don't know how much grit my chickens need so I don't know how much to feed them. But I find chickens of all ages are typically pretty good about consuming what they need as long as they have options. I don't see the benefit of combining them and making it harder on the chickens.

I bought a bag of grubblies black soldier fly larvae and I also have the chick grit I tried for the first two days and removed. I am wondering, do the chicks automatically know what to do with the grit? Should I add it to their food? I have seen mixed answers on this. And what about the treats, how do I know if they are too big for them to bite or handle? Do they need to be broken up?

Personally I'd give them the soldier fly larva and observe. Let them tell you if it needs to be broken up. I think they will be able to manage it quite well but I don't feed it so I can't say for sure.

Good luck!