Grit vs no grit

[rkapfen]

I’m getting day old chicks next month and have been reading a ton of conflicting information on grit. I know naturally chickens will get it from your soul but I’m paranoid they won’t be able to find enough of it or will run out of it.
A. Do you guys use grit with your baby chicks and at which age do you start it?
B. If you do use grit with your chickens do you still keep it in a separate container or do you mix it in with their food?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I give it to them. It's so cheap and I'd rather be safe than sorry. As soon as they are on pine shavings I put some on a shallow dish (Tupperware lid) or sprinkled on top of their crumble and they usually eat it right up. It's not something you need to give every day and it doesn't take much. I have about a table spoon to 14 chicks today that are 4 days old. It doesn't go bad so even if you don't have chicks again for a while it'll still be good.

 

[chickenmama109]

you can get chick grit and and when they get older and need the bigger grit you can put it in a container or you can put it in there food but i just take a lot of it and spread it around the yard so they can find it the natural way like wild chickens chickens know when they need it and will go looking for it when they fill the need to have it

 

[lazy gardener]

HI, welcome! IMO, grit is essential. When I start chicks, I give them grit shortly after they have started eating and drinking well. After the first day or two, when they are filling their crops and eating well, I give them a plug of sod from my yard. This gives them: first grit, minerals, first greens, perhaps a few insects, seeds, and worms. First experience "scratching" for their grub, first dust bath and LOTS of play value. That soil will also load their guts with beneficial bacteria and fungi to jump start their gut flora and their immune systems. That soil will also give them their first exposure to the pathogens they will encounter in your yard. This is a GOOD thing. They need that exposure during the first 2 weeks of their lives, while they still have antibodies received (while still in the egg) from their mother!

If you have a gravel driveway, you can also scoop some gravel up for them. They should be able to pick out the sizes of grit that they need from that. Don't get your gravel from the side of the road. Too many contaminants there.

Don't put grit in the chick's feed. Serve it up separately.

While you are researching, I do hope you will look at your brooder options: A heating pad brooder is much safer, more economical and comes as close as possible to resembling the type of heat supplied by a broody hen. (compared to a heat lamp.) Do a thread search for Mother Heating pad in the brooder. @Blooie has 2 wonderful articles and a thread dedicated to the subject. Also, you can provide a nice big brooder by picking up an appliance box. By the time your chicks are 2 - 3 weeks old, they will need 2 s.f./chick!!!

 

[brewfarm]

I don't usually give my hens grit. They free range and seem to find enough on their own. When I give my hens anything but feed- egg shells, grit, oyster shell, worms- I just throw it out in the yard and watch them run and peck. Only feed goes in the feeders.

 

[K813ZRA]

I don't give chicks grit because they only eat starter. If I move them to a grow out pen where they might get snacks etc then I will toss a handful of grit in the run now and again. However, I do not give grit at later ages because my birds free range a fair bit and have access to natural grit/rocks etc.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I give it to them. It's so cheap and I'd rather be safe than sorry. As soon as they are on pine shavings I put some on a shallow dish (Tupperware lid) or sprinkled on top of their crumble and they usually eat it right up. It's not something you need to give every day and it doesn't take much. I have about a table spoon to 14 chicks today that are 4 days old. It doesn't go bad so even if you don't have chicks again for a while it'll still be good.

X2

This is a good read regarding the importance of grit
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-science-of-feeding-grit-to-poultry.891051/

 

[K813ZRA]

X2

This is a good read regarding the importance of grit
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-science-of-feeding-grit-to-poultry.891051/

Great link and great read. Thanks for posting that. So much stuff to learn around here!

 

[Blooie]

Thanks for the tag, @lazy gardener! As she stated so well, a little grit never hurt 'em! I am a confirmed outdoor-chick-raiser, so my chicks start finding bit of it on their own early on, starting with the floor of their little brooder pen. It's a wire pen in the run in with the adults, so stuff gets scattered when the Bigs scratch it around! I also do the sod clump. I wasn't as successful as the other responders about giving them their grit in a little container - they absolutely gorged themselves on it, ignoring everything else in there. Once I just scattered a wee bit on the floor of the brooder and they had to work for it, they found it immediately, loved digging for it, and got what they needed.

 

[Folly's place]

When my chicks move to their section of the coop, and start finding stuff besides chicken crumble to eat, I scatter some chick sized grit along a shelf in their coop area. They will eat it as needed; it's not mixed with food, totally separate.
Mary