4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[mad house]

Out chicks are 1 week old and are on chick crumbs.

At what age can they eat other things? and at what age do they go onto growers pellets.

All the books we have read are confusing

[Egluntyne]

They need to be on growers pellets from around 6 weeks.

 

If they are having chick grit, they can have extras such as a tiny bit of broccoli etc.

 

If they are with a broody, she will supervise their eating and put everything into manageable pieces for them.

[ChrisEllis]

When can you start feeding them their grit ( i assume thats the mix of oyster shells etc.)

[laurmurf]

chick grit can be fed from quite early - and not oyster shell, that's for calcium, the chick grit I bought was very fine flint grit that grinds the food through the crop and gizzard.

[ChrisEllis]

whats it for then ? You get their normal food whcih is chick crumb for my example, then you get their oyster shells etc. and so whts the grit im so confused

[Falkor]

Hi Chris

 

Chooks need grit as it helps them grind up the food in their gizzard to make it digestable, So you little chickies will need chick grit. Chick grit is much smaller than standard hen grit.

 

Oyster shell is fed to laying hens as it provides them with the calcium that they need to make the egg shells. Oyster shell should not be fed to chicks or growers as they will take on too much calcium and this can cause problems with their growth.

 

When buying grit make sure you check if it has oyster shell in or not as some suppliers lable it Grit and Shell and some just Hen Grit but this can have shells in too.

 

 

When I first started with chooks in the garden I purchased these two books to help guide me and I found they offered all the essential bits of info that I needed to enable me to start.

 

http://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/shop.php?cat=Books&sub=Chicken&product_id=537&sort=popularity&start=0

 

http://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/shop.php?cat=Books&sub=Chicken&product_id=97&sort=popularity&start=0

 

I have some other books which go into more detail too but these are great starting points.

 

I recently purchased this book (for research) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Incubation-Hatching-Rearing-Katie-Thear/dp/090613725X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254162786&sr=8-2

and I think it would be a great book for you to read.

[TAJ]

Personally I stick to chick crumb only, no treats when they are that young. For grit I pick out the fine stone grit (not shell grit) bits from the sack of big girls grit. I have only started giving grit when they go outside i.e. when on growers and have access to grass.

 

Tracy