Grit - in a container or scattered on the ground?

[FeatherLace]

I have a bunch of 8-week-olds who spend all day outside in their run. We have rocky soil, and in addition to that, I have scattered about half a bag’s worth of chick grit on the ground for them to find as they scratch around. Is that enough, or should I put grit in an obvious container to make sure they eat it? The run bedding is dry grass clippings, dry leaves, twigs and other yard waste and they love scratching through it, down to the soil.

I scatter a small bit on the ground and I have a container with it just so I know for sure they're getting their healthy intake of grit

 

[FeatherLace]

Can someone tell me what chicken grit is? I am new to all of this

Grit is what chickens, and most birds for that matter, need to digest their food. Since they don't have teeth, they eat insoluble things like rocks that go into their crop so that when they eat food, it first goes through the crop to be ground up by those rocks and easily digested. They need grit if they are eating anything other than crumbles. You can buy it in bags at the feed store, or your chickens will just pick it up off the ground in forms of sand, dirt, and rocks. Your chickens know that they're supposed to eat grit so they will try and get it however they can. Most people just supplement it with bought grit to ensure they have a healthy supply of it for their crop.

Edit: I was corrected that the grit goes to the gizzard to grind up food, not to the crop! Sorry for the mistake!

 

[K0k0shka]

Grit is what chickens, and most birds for that matter, need to digest their food. Since they don't have teeth, they eat insoluble things like rocks that go into their crop so that when they eat food, it first goes through the crop to be ground up by those rocks and easily digested. They need grit if they are eating anything other than crumbles

Yes except that the rocks grind up the food in the gizzard (the stomach equivalent), not in the crop The crop is an enlargement of the esophagus and is only used for storage until the food moves on to the gizzard.

 

[FeatherLace]

Yes except that the rocks grind up the food in the gizzard (the stomach equivalent), not in the crop The crop is an enlargement of the esophagus and is only used for storage until the food moves on to the gizzard.

Woopsie daisy! I wasn't really thinking about what I was typing lol I was mostly just trying to make sure they were allowing their chickens to get grit.
Thanks for correcting me!

 

[K0k0shka]

Thanks everybody for the input! Looks like most folks have containers. I guess I wanted to know if the chickens HAVE to have it in a container, or if they’ll be fine just finding it on the ground. The first time I had chickens, it was “back in the day” and nobody even knew what grit was... there were rocks in the soil and that was that. So now I’m skeptical of the need to serve everything on a platter, but at the same time, don’t want to do my new chickens a disservice either. I think I’ll go for a middle ground. I’ll dump the rest of the bag of grit in a corner of their run and have that be the grit pile. They can go to it when they need it, or scratch it all over the run if they want. Just no ugly containers Find your own grit - what else do you have to do all day?

 

[Chickassan]

Find your own grit - what else do you have to do all day?

As funny and true as this statement is 50% of my birds would be gumming their meals till doomsday if grit wasn't in a big gaudy saucer..

 

[Xlynnex]

If you have mason sand in your run do you have to worry so much about keeping the grit intake up ?

 

[Chickassan]

Not so much, but throwing some bigger sized grit usually about aquarium gravel size so they have size variety.
Variety is more efficient, the same way our teeth vary in size and shape to,ensure efficient consumption.

If you have mason sand in your run do you have to worry so much about keeping the grit intake up ?

 

[Folly's place]

Sand isn't it, they need little rocks. Chick grit is pretty small, and big adults will have small stones in their gizzards.
Mary

 

[GC-Raptor]

Can someone tell me what chicken grit is?

Here in the U.S. its Granite. It allows chickens to digest whole seeds, whole grains and fibrous plants.

TSC carries two types; Chick Grit 5 lb bag and Poultry Grit 5 and 25 lb bags.

The Chick Grit is good up to about 10 weeks old.
I offer Poultry Grit after 7 weeks old in a separate container.
I also mix Grit into Scratch Grains at a ratio of 1 to 40 that I scatter in their pen as a treat after 10 weeks old. . GC