Grit is Unavailable ATM

[Brooks_]

I checked amazon before posting and the shipping here is very expensive :'(

Please add your general location to your profile. It helps for better answers.

 

[soospickle]

Please add your general location to your profile. It helps for better answers.

Just updated! Thank you for the tip!

 

[rosemarythyme]

If your soil doesn't have a lot of small rocks in it (mine doesn't) then a few handfuls of mixed size gravel should likely have enough small pieces to suit as grit. You can sift them out with a colander or just spread it out on the ground and let the birds have access.

What you are looking for are these sorts of sizes:

At 6 weeks your birds are just about in between chick & grower grit.

 

[soospickle]

If your soil doesn't have a lot of small rocks in it (mine doesn't) then a few handfuls of mixed size gravel should likely have enough small pieces to suit as grit. You can sift them out with a colander or just spread it out on the ground and let the birds have access.

What you are looking for are these sorts of sizes:
View attachment 3176285

At 6 weeks your birds are just about in between chick & grower grit.

Thank you for the comparison! I'm lucky enough that the natural soil here is very rocky, so I have a lot of variety of sizes.

 

[Dakar2009]

I watch my 9 week old Australorps (already large birds) peck around our very dry yard for a little bit each day and they seem to be good at picking up the size they need and dropping the stuff that's too big. They also have "construction sand" in their run that they pick at.

Do I still need to give them any grit?

 

[Brooks_]

I watch my 9 week old Australorps (already large birds) peck around our very dry yard for a little bit each day and they seem to be good at picking up the size they need and dropping the stuff that's too big. They also have "construction sand" in their run that they pick at.

Do I still need to give them any grit?

Maybe. The construction sand will do them little to no good, but what they find in the yard might be all they need. Grit is cheap enough for me that I leave it out for them regardless of what they find on their own. Oyster shell as well - my environment is high in calcium, but when something is cheap and doesn't go bad - I'll keep it on hand.

 

[Mr Spot]

Hi Everyone!
I cannot get chick grit where I live and the farm supply store doesn't know when their supply of regular/adult grit will arrive. My chicks are 6 weeks now and I would like to start letting them out in the grass during the day. Is there an alternative I could use in the interim? I do have access to oyster, but I have been reading it's not really the same and should be given only when about to lay.

Thank you!

What about coarse builders (concrete) sand ?

 

[Mr Spot]

What I normally do, and this is just me, either Saturday or Sunday I just get a big handful from the bag and broadcast it around in the run and let the peck around and get what they want.

 

[saysfaa]

What about coarse builders (concrete) sand ?

You have to be more careful than you might think. There is a dry product that looks like the bags of sand - size, type, label- but has concrete in it. It was much harder than I expected to find the concrete part on the label or in the description.

Even if it doesn't have concrete, it won't work well for grit for the same reasons as the other sands talked about in this thread - too fine to do the job.

I'm lucky enough to have the right sizes in the dirt around here but have lived in regions that didn't.

 

[Dakar2009]

There is just plain "sand" in the cement section of home improvement stores. It doesn't have anything else in it, but yes, you do have to make sure you grab that and nothing else from there. It's what I use in the run of my coop and they do pick at it, dig in it, and move it around. There are larger particles in it than "play sand" or "paver sand" you may be thinking of.

Construction Sand