Feed, Treats and Toys

All Babies Deserve Love, Even the Feathered Ones

Raising a happy and healthy flock, is more than just throwing out handfuls of random food and putting water out. It takes love, dedication and time all the way through their life. It starts from the day you bring them home, or they hatch, and goes all the way through to their end of life. How do you show chicks love? Besides feed, there’s also treats and toys that can be provided. We have found that our birds have always seemed more active and energetic when we have mixed in treats and other enrichment items to their coops or around our yard. When we first get our chicks from a farm and garden store, we always provide a medicated starter feed as it contains medication that helps prevent coccidiosis as well as providing the chicks with necessary nutrients. They can continue with the medicated feed until they are about 18 weeks old. After our initial starter flock has matured and began breeding, we no longer provide medicated feed to the chicks mainly because we don’t take them away from the hens. I am aware that many people choose to pull the eggs and hatch them in an incubator, but I prefer to allow the hens to do what they are meant to do. As medicated feed isn’t meant for adult birds, the chicks no longer get any.

Starter Feed

A good feed is crucial for baby chicks and your flock’s eventual health. If you are unsure about the health history of your chicks, you will want to make sure you provide them with a medicated feed. If you are sure there is no history disease in the chicks, you do not have to get the medicated feed. You can also supplement their food with treats such as rolled oats, mealworms, and small amounts of fruits and vegetables, but you should always prioritize the starter feed. Besides medication against coccidiosis, starter feed needs at least 18% protein to support rapid growth, amino acids for building tissues and support the overall development, prebiotics/probiotics/yeast to boost the chicks’ immune and digestive health as well as vitamins/minerals for bone health and overall well-being.

Treats and Supplements

While in moderation, it’s important that you provide your chicks with treats so long as it is in moderation.

• Rolled oats are a good source of essential vitamins and minerals.
• Mealworms are a protein-packed treat that our chicks have always loved. We have always bought bags of them from the farm and garden stores, but I know you can order live ones and have them sent to your address.
• Grit helps chicks grind up food in their gizzard and is important because chicks don’t have teeth.
• Chicks can enjoy small amounts of apples, blueberries, strawberries, carrots and cucumbers.
• Grains like corn and wheat can be provided in moderation.

It is important to avoid foods high in sugar, fat or salt as well as potatoes and tomato plants.

Important

The important considerations that you must have when raising chicks is that they must have 24/7 access to feed as well as clean and fresh water. While they are babies, this can be quite the undertaking as they have a tendency to kick their bedding into the waterers.

At about 8 weeks, you can start to transition them to grower feed and once they reach 18 weeks (or the first egg arrives) you can slowly transition them to layer feed.

Enrichment Toys

To help keep chicks entertained feel free to offer items to keep them busy. Plenty of room in their brooder is vital. You don’t want them crammed in and on top of each other but there is more to it than that.

• Roosts and Swings – Chicks enjoy jumping on and off sticks that you place in their brooder. Gives them a different perspective as well as helps them get exercise. Since we allow our adult chickens to free range, we know just how much they enjoy getting high up in the trees or sitting on fences and we love to watch the little ones in their learning stages.
• Grass, Weeds and Herbs – You can dig up a small clump of grass and dirt from your yard and put it in the brooder. This will allow them to begin to learn how to scratch and explore. You can do the same with a clump of weeds as well. Weeds are beneficial for chicks because they can provide grit which is essential to help break down their food. Herbs that are beneficial to chicks are basil, dill, cilantro and garlic so feel free to give them some clippings from those plants.
• You can hang some small mirrors for them to look at themselves. If you watch, you will them try to intimidate or impress the chick they see in the mirror. The nice thing about mirrors is that you can get them and the supplies to hang them from the local dollar store for cheap!
• Make sure to play with them. The more you interact with them while they are babies, the more likely they will continue to interact with you one they are adults. We enjoy just sitting and watching them jump and play with each other as well as reaching in and allowing them to peck at our hands. Chickens don’t have hands, so they figure out what things are by pecking and poking at them.

The best thing about the treats and toys, is they can all be little to no cost! Even with the fruits and vegetables you can keep costs down if you already have small garden. If you didn’t before you started raising chickens, maybe this was the nudge you need to send you in that direction.