pebbles

Pebbles - Silkie cross, so cute!

My hen, Bernie, is hopefully on the mend from flystrike. We have her in the house for as long as it takes for the exposed flesh to heal. How often does she need to have access to small rocks for her digestive health?

I am a very new chicken lady (a few months) and my chickens do something odd. They pick up pebbles and put them in their water, food and even in rinds of vegetables I give them. Is this normal? I feel like they are "offerings" to the chicken gods or something.