What can 3 week old chicks snack on?

[Thortherooster]

i know some people don't agree but let them out, or bring them some bugs, my young chickens were very much more healthy and active when they could eat some bugs, also maybe some grapes, cooked rice, and cooked pasta, and cooked potatoes, these all are entertaning to watch the chicks eat!!

 

[chickenpearl]

I'm glad someone asked this--please keep responses coming! I have been letting my 2.5 week olds "play" outside in the grass, where of course they are having a ball and eating grass, bugs, sand, etc. They still mostly eat their chick starter, but they seem happy and healthy even though I worried about the grit thing. If you let them out in a run, there is almost no way to avoid having them eat things other than their food!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Sounds like you are doing just fine.

My chickens started going out when they were about 2 1/2 weeks old. They are all healthy, hardy birds now. Once I ran out of the box of parakeet grit I bought as their first grit, I simply went to our gravel driveway and scooped them up a dish of gravel and dirt. They enjoyed it and got all the grit they needed.

 

[barngem]

So I should be giving my 2-3 week old chicks some grit?
Or taking them on a yard tour.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
If they have access to dirt they can usually find enough grit on their own. They don't need grit if all they are eating is their chick starter, but if they are going outside I can promise you they are going to find other things to eat besides their starter.
If your weather is nice, by all means take them outside. You will be surprised at how much they bloom when they are allowed to be chickens and not kept closed up in a brooder like hot house flowers.

 

[KnitswithChickens]

My five week olds went crazy when I gave them cockroaches that I caught under my flower pots. (Shiver

) They played keep away for a good long while until I was able to give them each their own treat

They also like clover - the whole plant, leaves and blossoms. Out in the run they seem to be eating dirt, and catching mosquitos on their own. No chick grit, I figure they're getting all they need in the crumbles and dirt.

 

[anthonyjames]

I have been putting my chickens in a run since about a week old. I put out the heat lamp and let them be chickens.

I throw out about a tblspn of hi cal grit in the run, tblspn hi protein bird feed, some of their food, plus their food in a feeder.

baby crickets
inch worms
yogurt with their feed 1 time per day. approx 1/4 cup yogurt with 2 tblspn feed for 10 chickens to share.

And then what ever they dig up being chickens in the yard.

They are not 3 weeks old and love when I call the morning coming to their brooder cuz they know outside time is coming.

 

[Judy]

My broody has been teaching her babies to scratch and peck in the dirt since day one. They still eat a good amount of starter. She will even pull the starter onto the ground and get them to eat it that way.

Personally, I think chicks raised in a brooder should always be given plain live culture yogurt, or some other probiotic. Chicks with a mama eat a little poo and build gut flora that way; those in a brooder logically would need another source.

I also feel the 10% of their feed is a good guideline, as a maximum. And I also feel they do best if gotten outdoors and on the ground as young as possible, even if this means providing a place to go to warm up in cooler weather.

 

[babyspice35]

I had chuck steak last night, so I decided to feed the chicks some of the organic fat that I had cut off. Boy, they loved it! I put it in the blender and made it onto the consistency of tuna before it goes into the sandwich.

 

[HippieChickens]

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