Dust Baths

I put a little bowl of dirt in my chicks brooder to see if they'd take dust baths. Instead they are taking bits out of it in their beaks and running all over the cage and chasing each other. (Very entertaining to watch.)

1. At what age do they start doing dust baths and how can I put something in the brooder to encourage that?

2. I got the 'dirt' from my compost pile and it's a mixture of topsoil and composted aged cow manure (well-aged, at least 3 years). Is this okay?

Chickens love dust baths and so do baby chickens. You might see them lying in their feed (if the bowl is large enough) or in the shavings in the bottom of the brooder flopping around. This is the beginning of their bathing habits.
What I would do, is go out and dig up a little chunk of dirt and leave the grass with it. They will love you for it. Fun to watch them check out grass for the first time :)

Okay, I'll do that. I don't have any purchased grit to give them. Will they get grit from the dirt I already put in and also the dirt on the grass or should I worry that there will be problems if they eat the grass with no purchased grit?

I wanted to give them a little left over lettuce head the other day to play with and eat but was nervous about the no-grit issue.

I found this for you......

Question
Hi. I just got some week old chicks for the first time. I have read that baby chicks need fine grit along with their feed, but the store I got them at said they were too young for grit. Which is true? Also, is it ok for them to be pecking at their litter of pine shavings?

Answer
You do not need to provide grit as long as you feed your chicks exclusively on crumbles

I don't think they will eat the grass yet, but they will have fun trying to figure out what it is :)

How old are the chicks?

They're a week and a half old. Someone told me not to put anything in there that they might eat unless I had grit. And their chick feed doesn't have any in it, I don't believe. But I'm wondering if they're getting what they need from the dirt in the bowl I put in there (one of them took a bunch of dust baths and appeared to have a ball) and if they would also get 'grit' from the dirt beneath any grass I put in there.

I'm going out of town for a week starting Sunday and I don't want to do anything that might have ill effects while I'm gone. My house sitter lives in a home with chickens but I don't want to leave him with any problems.

On the other hand, I don't want the chickens bored out of their skulls either. I can tell they really like the distractions I put in their brooder. I put a small roosting stick in there earlier too. So far they're way more interested in the bowl of dirt.

I tried a bowl of yogurt yesterday but they all ignored that so I took it out.

I have to go in the area of the feed store tomorrow so I can stop in and buy some grit. So maybe I'll wait til tomorrow on the grass thing. But it seems to me they should be getting all the grit they need from the bowl of dirt. They are certainly pecking at it with vigor!

Your going to find out that chickens love dirt! My BF keeps wondering where it all goes in the runs. He shovels fresh dirt in to try to cover all the area's that they have dug up, and in a week it's all gone..........LOL
We call ours piglets :)

They don't need grit for soft foods, only whole grains and seeds. Comercial feeds are broken down enough that it goes right through. Bugs, vegitation and such is digested without a problem. By all means, give them dirt. Chicks raised by hens are pecking about in the dirt at 24 hours old. A clump of sod is always a welcome treat, just make sure the grass is not overly treated with yard chemicals.

Gwen, when you get a chance, cut up celery into really small pieces. Our chicks loved it. And my BF would take a little frozen corn out and let it thaw out. Then we would cut the kernels into 1/4th's and hand feed them that. You will find out that they love that corn. They will start looking for it anytime you put you hand in by them....thinking "treat time".

Interesting about the celery. It's one of the few things my dogs can't eat. They throw up afterwards. I think it's something about all that stringy cellulose stuff. I'm dying to put the cabbage or lettuce head in there, hanging, and see what they do! Maybe I'll amuse myself with that tonight. :)