Grit questions

[ChickenFairy]

Hello,

I’m wondering what kind of grit is best for 10 week old chickens?
I’ve been giving them sand, I have oyster shells I’m just not sure when to feed that.
Do I need to give different grit when they are older?
They will be laying hens and I have a few roosters.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure how the Canadians do it. The Brits call oyster shell soluble grit, it should only be offered to laying hens. They call the the type of grit chickens use to grind food in their gizzard insoluble grit. In the US we call oyster shell oyster shell and th ekind of grit used to grind up their food grit.

Now that that is cleared up, they need the grit to grind their food now. If they have access to the ground they should be getting their own, but if you wish you can get "grit" that is mad from granite at the food store. At ten weeks they should be able to handle regular grit and not need chick grit.

Oyster shell should not be offered until they start laying. Offering oyster shell on the side is a standard way of handling a mixed flock, whether mixed by age or sex. You feed the same low calcium feed to everyone with oyster shell in a separate container. The ones that need it for the egg shells typically eat it and the ones that don't need it don't eat enough to harm themselves.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Yeah, 10 weeks their ready for Poultry Grit.
Around here they only have two sizes of Granite Grit. They're called Chick Grit, for chicks up to 7/8 weeks, then I mix in Poultry Grit with Chick Grit till the small bag of Chick Grit is gone.
I've never had Bantams, but I would probably have the Chick Grit available till 10/11 weeks. GC

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have 3 sizes of grit. Chick is on left, pullet/small hen middle, hen/adult grit on right. At 10 weeks they should be getting the middle size and by around 16, 18 weeks they can take the adult size. Most sand is far too tiny to serve as grit. Oyster shell should be served once they're laying.