confusion about grit

[Chris09]

I'm sure that there is some people that will disagree with this but here we go..

If you feed a meal, crumble or pellet and don't feed green or grain I see no need for grit.
The feed is ground up all ready and when added to with water (as when a bird drinks) it will soon break up..
If you are free ranging (not in tractor) you don't need grit as the bird will get all the grit it need from the earth..
Now if you bird is penned up, or in a tractor and your feeding grain and or greens then yes you need to feed grit.

Chris

 

[Akane]

Most peoples' chickens on here do have access to the outdoors where they will find things other than poultry feed. Most also get treats sometimes. Since many are also penned up where they may not find suitable grit it's best to suggest they put out grit just in case. Most do have a situation that could potentially need grit. Also there can be hay or straw used as bedding in the coop which would require more to break it down if they eat it and they will eat it. Mine ate a whole bale of straw over the winter. There wasn't a piece of straw bedding left by spring. They were also inside constantly from the snow so in that case grit was a good idea. To be safe pretty much everyone should put out a dish of granite grit just in case.

 

[socks]

o.k. thanks guys

....I'll just um....digest

all this and come up with what works for me.

 

[felidaet]

The only thing that I am mixing with the feed is a little of flax seed.

Grit and oyster shell are each offered all of the time but not in the feed. Each of them are available in their own bin. (I built my feeders from wood). The chickens will eat what they need. At first they seemed to consume quite a bit of grit but they are not consuming as much now. When I gave them Oyster shell for the first time a couple of weeks ago they consumed quite a bit the first few days. Then they slowed down.

I bought 50 lb bags of each grit and oyster shell. Each of the 50 lb bags were less than $10.00, just a few dollars more than the 5 lb bags. I suspect these are going to last me a very long time.

When buying the 50lb bag of grit I found out that the grit actually comes in 4 sizes. It was explained to me that size 1 is for chicks. They said that size 4 is for turkeys. They said that size 2 and 3 are very similar is size. They said that size 2 is the most common and can be used for the entire life of the chickens after they are 12 weeks old (I am raising large breeds). I decided to buy size 2.

Maybe other people have some thoughts to offer about the grit sizes. I have seen very little discussion here about the 4 sizes.

 

[Akane]

Part of it may be that not many people have an option in size. My feed store only sells one size and the other feedstore doesn't even sell grit. I forget what the number is but it's labelled grower size. It's far too big for my smaller bantams until they reach adult size and even then it's borderline. To any that aren't free ranging I also offer sand since I can't get any smaller granite grit here.

 

[wildorchid053]

just offer it on the side in a dish and they can eat it if they need it. i do the same with the oyster shell once they start laying

 

[cmom]

A chicken's food goes, as is, into the crop, where it is slowly funneled into a very small " stomach" for some digestive additives--then to the Gizzard, where it is 'chewed', that is, ground into material that can be digested as it moves into the intestines and so on... The Gizzard is best able to break down whole grains and other chunky bits that they eat when full of grit. Longest lasting grit is Granite, that lasts well. All other rock and stone is so much softer, that it wears down fast and that is why granite grit is best choice, works really well for best utilization of feeds. My baby chicks are given free choice and they choose it with pleasure, Chick grit is fine Granite, as soon as they are given anything besides Starter Crumbles. Their tiny gizzards are at optimum function at an early age. I first give my chicks some treats such as rolled oats, lettuce, vegie scraps at 2/3 weeks with a dish of free choice Chick grit. I get my chick grit at TSC.