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So,I got a pair of baby chickens.They are not too small though, they have beautiful yellow feathers and flap their wings, occasionally sitting on my leg. When we got them,the guy gave us some special food.During the first few days, they ate it. Afterwards, when I noticed they couldn't eat the food properly, I crushed it into smaller bits,which seemed to work.But nowadays,they're SUPER hyperactive. They run like crazy and don't get into the cage on their own. But most importantly, they eat rubbish. They throw away the special food the guy gave us and try to eat random stuff like black threads lying here and there.They like to eat anything but proper food. I tried my best to keep them away from that but what is the problem and solution here?

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  • How long have you had the baby chicks? About how old are they?
    – James Jenkins
    Dec 20, 2018 at 13:15
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    It's been six days and they are probably 5 weeks old.
    – Nabiha21
    Dec 20, 2018 at 13:22
  • Are you giving them grit in addition to their food?
    – Allison C
    Dec 20, 2018 at 15:11
  • No,I am not. Should I tho?
    – Nabiha21
    Dec 22, 2018 at 17:25
  • Chicks that are kept indoors only need grit to help them digest food if you are offering treats and scraps, they usually don't need additional grit while they are on chick starter only.
    – Meg
    Dec 16, 2019 at 16:11

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Chickens are browsers, the like to walk around trying different foods. Normally they would follow mom for a few weeks and learn from her. But even without mom around they will just try different stuff. You should try to limit how much artificial stuff they can eat (like string).

If they are outside, the can eat all the bugs, grass, rocks, etc that they want.

I would also get a new bag of feed, the other may have gotten damp, or otherwise been contaminated. You can leave feed out for them all the time in a feeder, that is protected from rain (like inside the chicken coop).

Chickens can be noisy, so screaming is not normally a bad sign.

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  • Thank you so much. And btw, I have bought new food but they still don't eat it. And I live in an apartment so I can't really get them outside on open fields or gardens. Should I buy some other type of food?
    – Nabiha21
    Dec 20, 2018 at 13:43

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