Not much food, but a chick may take it (3)
I believe the answer is:
pea
'not much food' is the definition.
'pea' can be an answer for 'food' (pea is a kind of food). I'm not sure about the 'not much' bit.
'a chick may take it' is the wordplay.
'a chick may' becomes 'pa' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'take' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'it' becomes 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT').
'pa' enclosing 'e' is 'PEA'.
'but' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pea that I've seen before include "Climber" , "Ape this plant awkwardly" , "Ape this plant badly" , "It grows in 23 Down" , "Little green vegetable" .)