Can you make chick grit from regular grit?

[DeneeNae]

I have a bag of grit that I give to my marure hens already, but I recently got 8 chicks and was wondering if I could crush the grit down further to use as grit for chicks. Anyone tried this? Tips?

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

What is your mature chicken grit made out of? If it's oyster shell you shouldn't feed that to your new chicks. If it's some sort of rock like granite you could crush it up and give to the littles.

 

[sevenfatcows]

Here's what I've been doing for years, and it works very well. Just go outside and pull up a clump of grass or dandelion, etc. with its roots and attached dirt. Put the whole thing, dirt and all, into the brooder with the baby chicks. They will be able to get a sufficient amount of the grit proper to their size from that. I have a brooder with four day olds in it right now, and gave them a generous heap of clumps last night. It's fun to listen to them "talk" about it as they investigate, pick through, and generally tear it all up. They will eat small amounts of the grass also, depending on their age. Usually, they really enjoy it; we never buy chick grit.

 

[DeneeNae]

Here's what I've been doing for years, and it works very well. Just go outside and pull up a clump of grass or dandelion, etc. with its roots and attached dirt. Put the whole thing, dirt and all, into the brooder with the baby chicks. They will be able to get a sufficient amount of the grit proper to their size from that. I have a brooder with four day olds in it right now, and gave them a generous heap of clumps last night. It's fun to listen to them "talk" about it as they investigate, pick through, and generally tear it all up. They will eat small amounts of the grass also, depending on their age. Usually, they really enjoy it; we never buy chick grit.

That sounds like a wonderful idea! I bet they would have fun with that! But, I live in the desert (northern AZ) and dandelion greens are just not a thing out here.... Greens in general, actually. I'll try to find something similar though. Thanks so much!

 

[DeneeNae]

What is your mature chicken grit made out of? If it's oyster shell you shouldn't feed that to your new chicks. If it's some sort of rock like granite you could crush it up and give to the littles.

It's granite, but the chunks look bigger, so wasn't sure if it was ok for chicks. How would I crush it down?

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

A hammer should be sufficient to crush up the granite.

 

[sevenfatcows]

I actually live in the desert, too, but I garden, so there's always something I can pull up.. Maybe you can find some bermuda somewhere? I bet we probably have a lot of the same weeds-just avoid creeping spurge. I have used erodium since it is almost always around. You could even use a small bedding plant from a garden center-maybe they'd let you carry off a few from the pathetic pile of half dead ones in a shopping cart at the back-the ones destined for the trash.

 

[Zastoroviya]

What is your mature chicken grit made out of? If it's oyster shell you shouldn't feed that to your new chicks. If it's some sort of rock like granite you could crush it up and give to the littles.

Oyster shells are not grit. They are a calcium supplement for egg layers.