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Do I need grit?

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hockeygirl56

hockeygirl56

Songster
Apr 21, 2011
157
11
134
Allenton, MI
I had read in books and things that as long as I feed a commercial food, I don't need to provide grit for my chicks. I have them on a commercial starter crumble food that is medicated - just got them today. Someone that used to work at our local feed store told me that I still need to provide grit for them though. What is the right answer?
 
If your just feeding them chick starter they don't need grit. Once you start giving them treats, bugs/plants, is when they need grit. I start giving mine grit once they go outside.
 
You do not need to provide grit as long as they are eating just the crumble. You can even get away with soft treats like eggs and yogurt (small amounts given after they are 2 or 3 weeks old). At about three or four weeks I give them a dish of sand. The sand acts as grit and they love to dustbathe in it. Only leave it in the brooder for a few minutes the first couple of times because they will try to eat it all until they get used to it being in there.
 
I enjoyed giving my first 2 treats and started giving them just soft things but then graduated up. I started giving them chick grit too. So the new babies I started mixing chick grit in their box with the bedding because they love to pretend to be big girls and scratch and peck for stuff. This keeps them busy and I knew they are eating it because I see it missing when I clean up the box. I just sprinkle a little around. I was seeing that I could offer it separate or mix in a bag of food. I figured separate is fine for me.
 
First, who to believe, lots of books and people knowledgeable about chickens or someone that used to work at a feed store? I can understand the confusion though. Often people tell you to give grit anyway because treats are given without thinking.
 
Ok, so what I'm understanding is as long as they are getting only the commercial food, there's enough grit in that to take care of that food for them. But if I add anything else in, whether it's from me or from outside, they need to get additional grit to help them process the extra stuff. So I won't worry about the grit for a few weeks until I start offering them other things then.
 
Uh Oh, does this mean that our chicks may be harmed if they did not have grit when I gave them crickets?

Ours were 10 days old yesterday and I gave them some cricket (tiny ones) but I could not find grit for them that did not have oyster shell in it. Will they be okay??
 
Quote:
Correct!

Mommysongbird- you can probably get chick grit from wherever you get your feed, but you're right- don't give the regular bird grit from pet sections. You can also dig up some pebble-y dirt from your yard (nothing too big though) and use that or use construction sand (not play sand). I would say if your chicks seem active and healthy then they are just fine. Even when my chicks were in the brooder, I would give them a bowl of yard dirt every day, and now they have access to my yard, so I have never given them store bought grit.
 
Quote:
Correct!

Mommysongbird- you can probably get chick grit from wherever you get your feed, but you're right- don't give the regular bird grit from pet sections. You can also dig up some pebble-y dirt from your yard (nothing too big though) and use that or use construction sand (not play sand). I would say if your chicks seem active and healthy then they are just fine. Even when my chicks were in the brooder, I would give them a bowl of yard dirt every day, and now they have access to my yard, so I have never given them store bought grit.

I agree with AKsmama, don't buy grit. we have a small creek nearby and I get sand from there. yard dirt with grass attached is fine. do not use the bagged play sand you get at the home building supply stores. go to a local building supply, not Lowes or the Home Depot, ask for construction or building sand. they may just give you a small bucket full. just plain old dirt will work ok. If you plan on free ranging in your yard, just give them some of the dirt from your yard. my 2 week old girls just love to get a new handful of creek sand. they scratch, and peck around and pick out little pieces to eat. they roll and fluff in it. we leave it available 24/7, and add more if needed.
as you can tell, we are firm believers in giving grit and giving it early.
 

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