Sponsored Post Grit and Oyster Shell: When in Doubt, Put it Out

[Melabella]

I have fed every single egg shell from the girls right back to them after I eat their eggs. I just wait until they are dried out, crush them out, and drop them in the feeder with the oyster shell. They go nuts as if I just gave them a treat. They must taste good!
Thank you for the article, well done

MB

 

[mo puff]

Stupid questions coming up... Do rats eat oyster shell and grit? Obviously we must keep these inside the coop itself, cause it would get rained on... OR does that matter? I have had my chickens [3] for about 2 yrs,. they have never had either one; because the guy at the feed store told me the food had both in it... was he wrong? AND finally, do you or anyone else reading this use Diatenatious Earth.. ? diatomatious ? excuse spelling. OK enough dumb ?s .. thank you!

 

[mo puff]

So the eggshell is replacing the grit? or do you give all 3 [oyster, girt, shell] ?

 

[lindsay297]

The eggshell can replace the oyster shell if you have enough egg shell. The grit is seperate. I mix my eggshells with limestone chips as I can not get oyster shells in this area. But the grit I give seperatly in a feeder. My girls go through a fair amout in the winter and not much in the summer. Mine are coop/run girls though!!

 

[kadizkidz]

I also give my chickens their egg shells right back to them and crush them up along with Grit.
My Silkies LUV them also. I recycle as much on the farm as possible.

 

[1stTimeChknMama]

My chickens live in an 8 X 10 pen with an all dirt/sand floor (we live in Georgia, not clay floor, just the dirt) & occasionally free range in the yard (maybe an hour a day), should i provide extra grit?

 

[mo puff]

Thank you for your response. Mine do get out and free range about 4 times a week . After i read what you wrote about eggshell, i put some crunched up in some left over popcorn.. they went nuts for it.. as you said. I do wonder if rats will be attracted to it. I have bben having a problem w/ them getting into my food. I wish there were a atomatic feeder on a timer? is there. As of now, i am going out there in early mornig to give them just enough for 1 day so the rats wont have any... but i dont like the inconvenience and i really dont know if i am giving them enough. Seems there is a little left each morning. But, i left the cover off last night and found droppings in the hopper again.. So will they go after the grit and shell, I wonder. Do I have to keep it dry, or can it be out in the run? Thanks again for your attention.

 

[popsicle]

mo puff, rats shouldn't be attracted to grit--it's just crunched up granite, quartzite or similar. I don't think they would be attracted to oyster shell, but they might be attracted to egg shells. If you're concerned, you could try to find limestone grit, which has some calcium so you can pass on the shells.

A former-stray cat lives in our coop--so we don't have a mouse/rat problem that I've noticed.

 

[MemesChicks]

I give my girls their eggshells, too, along with grit and OS in separate containers. I crush up the dried shells like everyone else and sometimes put them in a treat like flocks block, or melon shell/pumpkin. Other times, I just sprinkle it around the run or into the treat/compost area in the run. They eat it like a snack and are all over it. I also make a homemade suet just for them, and I use the eggshell in there, too. Okay, I have to share--a real treat favorite is a cabbage ball with wholes cut into it--into the wholes I stuff the suet with mixed with the crushed shells. They LOVE this!

The grit I sprinkle around in the run as well, in addition to putting it in a separate container. Gives them something to scratch for. Don't we just love our girls!

 

[missnu01]

I haven't given any grit or oyster shells, but I do give them their egg shells back, and they eat layer food...They free range, and we have a few tons of road bond in the yard literally, it is a pile that is probably 10 feet high, just right in the middle of the yard...the kids and dogs love it...which for whatever reason is what the yard is made of...Roadbond is the layer of dirt and tiny rocky bits and broken up asphalt that they put down before they put in the actual road...so it is full of little chunks that I would assume are perfect for the chickens...But soon I will be switching everyone over to a flockraiser and then I will supplement oyster shell...and maybe grit...I don't think so though, as I said before our yard is literally made of grit...Lol.