Grit...........Why not just plain ol' dirt???

[sticks22]

Do I really have to buy sand for their grit? Why cant I just use the dirt around the house? I mean its basically sand, right?

 

[PAChickenChick]

You might already know this...but I'll just post it here anyway cause every post deserves some replies

The purpose of "grit" is to grind up the pieces of food in the chicken's crop....sooooo...

If your chick / chicken has access to various sizes of pebbles, sand, or anything grainy...then regular dirt is just fine. However if your dirt is just...dirt without any rough stuff then it won't be enough. (however, most dirt has rough stuff in it)

Some folks like to provide "grit" just so they can rest assured.

Me....I started mixing a spoonful of my outside dirt in with their bowl of crumbles at week one (to provide tiny grit but mostly to get them use to the dirt they'd be in to hopefully avoid cocci). Now that I give them food other than crumbles I did buy a small box of grit that I mixed up with their big container of crumbles and that should last me a couple months. They get the rest of their grit while foraging outside in the plain ol' dirt

 

[tvtaber]

We have sandy dirt and have had no trouble without adding grit. However, you could add it free choice (in a seperate bowl or small feeder) if you wish to be sure. Personally, i don't mix things with the feed because it goes directly from bag to feeder and they have a large run that they can pick clean for grit.