Grit is Unavailable ATM

[Thatscluckinggreat]

Probably the easiest place to get grit in your area is with a shovel on the side of dirt/gravel roads. Just make sure you are not collecting from a place that uses chemical de-icers on the roads. That usually only happens with paved roads though.

 

[Mr Spot]

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.

The sand I was talking about doesn't come in a bag like play sand for kids or paver sand, you go to a yard that specializes in sand and gravel for contractors and get it there, it has small rocks in it.

 

[Folly's place]

Sand is not the answer, they need small stones, and gravel of different sizes is a better choice. our birds can access our gravel driveway, perfect.
We had to buy grit this year, because the flock was locked in for six months. Otherwise, I buy chick grit for chicks before they go outside only.
Mary

 

[Al Gerhart]

Find a grave monument company and visit their dumpster. They will use mostly commercial type granite, what we used to call courthouse granite, that will be low in heavy metals such as lead, uranium, and other toxic heavy metals. Avoid the countertop guys, most of the pretty granite is loaded with toxic heavy metals. The monument companies will have a lot of floor sweepings from the chiseling, just filter out the fines by washing through a kitchen strainer or window screen.

Sand works too but river sand is usually not as sharp as grit. Ditto on most desert sand. You want fresh weathered sand if you have to resort to sand.

 

[Kanekoded]

I use traction sand on the floor my run, it's a very rocky sand that runs just around $3 for a 50lb bag. Not only does it make clean-up a breeze but provides all the grit my chicken's little hearts could desire. I get it at Menards or Home Depot.