Grit

[Jverdian]

Hi there! I’m a new mom to 3 8 week old pullets. I’m confused about how/when to include grit in their diet.

 

[staceyj]

When they start eating anything other than their chick starter , that’s when they must have grit.

There’s chick grit and regular grit.
You need chick grit.

 

[Justso]

Generally they say if you are feeding chick starter only you don't need grit. If you are feeding any additional kind of food you should make chick grit available. Same goes as they get older. You offered grit available As well as crushed oyster shell when they start laying

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

Hi! I've given my chicks free choice grit starting when they were a few days old and I gave them their first plug of soil from the yard to play with/eat lovely things out of Mine are 10wks now. I've been sifting the adult sized grit to get the smaller pieces - I read that hint here on this forum and it saves me trying to track down chick grit!

I put the grit in a dish and my chicks eat it free choice.

Are your chicks standard size? If they are bantams they might do better with smaller grit, I think.

 

[staceyj]

Grit is usually granite chips. (Not to be confused with oyster shell which doesn’t come into their lives until someone lays that always anticipated FIRST EGG!) Chick grit is tiny.
Regular grit looks like this:

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

Hum, I got a bag of grit from Fleet Farm and it says it's size #2. When I sift it through a toy sandbox sifter I get little pieces like chick grit (I started with a bag of chick grit, but it's a 45min drive to that store and its so expensive to have any shipped!)

 

[Jverdian]

They are eating this, plus a few mealworms and oats. Possibly bugs as well and a little dry grass. Should si purchase chick grit? How often and how much? I’m sorry to ask such details, I really have no experience with poultry other than the internet (YouTube)!

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

There are so many questions when it comes to chicken raising, aren't there?!?! That's why I'm so thankful for this community.

This article includes info on grit:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/feeding-options-at-different-life-stages.72247/

I don't free range so I'm not confident my chicks can find enough grit in their run to help them digest all that they eat outside. Grit is used in the gizzard to grind up stuff they eat. (A great book is The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow - I found it in our library system and it's full of great info! She says chicken feed is softened enough by saliva, and that's why grit isn't necessary with feed only chickens.)

From week 1 - about week 8, I went through a 5lb bag of chick grit for 5 chicks. A lot was pooped on (and discarded!) when they were in the brooder, and a fair amount is spilled because it's my toddler's job to scoop the grit and dump it into the chick's grit dish

 

[Jverdian]

Thank you so much for the info! Mine won’t be able to do much free-ranging due to my German Shepherd, they’ll be mostly in a 50 sq ft run, so I’ll need to include grit. Yes, there really is a lot to learn!

 

[Bdbutton]

My chicken have utility sand in their coop an run, will this be the same as grit?? Also, can I give them ground up egg shells in place of oyster shell?