carrot shavings ...

[adeechickluv]

I made some carrot juice today and I have the scraps (you know, ground up carrot) and I figured why not feed it to the chicks? They went crazy once they realized it was food, but then I saw runny poop all over the place. Was this because of the carrots?

 

[felidaet]

I have found that sometimes giving them something new, especially in a large amount, can cause runny poop. I gave my 5 month old pullets a bucket of tomato scraps (we were canning lots of them) last year and they got the runs very bad for a couple of days. We gave them way to many. After that incident, most (we gave them a small quantity once in awhile) of the tomato scraps went into the compost pile. Any treats should not make up more than 10% of their diet.

Did you also provide them grit? If you are feeding anything other than chick starter you need to give them chick grit.

 

[Ariel301]

Yeah, it's probably from the carrots. Ours did that too, when they first started getting vegetables and fruit. It scared us once, because they started pooping purple and blue, and we were freaking out over it...and then realized they had eaten a meal of purple cabbage that day.

 

[speckledhen]

Be sure you give them grit if they eat hard stuff like carrots. If not, they'll end up with impacted crops. I think raw carrots are too hard for very young chicks personally. An old saying is "The better for basket weaving, the worse for chicken feeding", meaning hard, fibrous things are not good for a chicken's crop, certainly not when they are very young especially. Cooked carrots are a different story, though. Many things that are really different from their usual starter can change their poop in different ways.

 

[7peeplings]

I've got a question about the "impacted crop" mentioned. Our 7 chicks are 8 days old (super fuzzy and cute). when you hold their little fuzzy bodies, the chest feels like its filled with rocks on the one side. I assume this is the crop, holding the ground corn 'grit/scratch' that is mixed in with the chick start. Is it normal to feel this bumpy organ in the chest at this age- or is there too much corn mixed in? Everyone seems very active and happy. Thanks!

 

[adeechickluv]

The carrots are soft and squishy. Should I still give them grit?
So basically, it's ok, as long as it's in small amounts?

 

[Illia]

Whaaat? My hens and roosters HATE carrots. . . Or anything orange. Seriously, I don't know why and I would prefer that they eat them, but. . . Haven't tried with chicks.

 

[nanawendy]

Mine will leave carrots for very last...if @ all. When given leftover stew or such, I always see the carrots the next day. ignored

 

[adeechickluv]

These are carrot SHAVINGS!

Has ANYONE made carrot juice?! It squeezes all the juice from it and scrapes up the carrot stuff in this mushy, squishy form. Which we usually throw away or throw into our garden. We decided why not let the chicks try it?

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, you give them grit if they eat anything that has fiber in it.