Grit

[Appalachickens]

Once my chicks were a few days old, I started putting a little pan with a clump of dirt from the run and some chick grit in the brooder. It disappears pretty quickly. For the older chicks in the coop, I have a hanging holder of chick grit mixed with crushed granite gravel from the driveway. That also disappears pretty readily.

 

[Bawkbok]

Depending on the amount of water, you might have a dish of mush, or you might have bits sitting in the bottom of a dishful of water.

The feed got wet during a thunderstorm and turned into a thick glob of concrete mess essentially. Why would rain make the consistency be so different than when I add water to make a mash? It's not nearly as sticky. Is it due to the particulate matter in the air picked up by the rain? I dumped the feed thinking it would not be good for the girls to eat. How long does rain soaked feed take to mold anyway?

ETA - Grit turns nasty when wet also. What does everyone use to serve the OS and grit in to keep it dry? Otherwise, I have to remember to remove it before it rains, or I'm replacing it all after a rain. I've been dumping a lot of OS and grit this week. OS turns to a pasty concrete when wet. Is this ok for the chickens to eat or am I being overly anal about everything needing to be dry?

 

[EastonsMommy]

Moving chicks from brooder to coop. What do I need to do for grit? They will not be free ranging

Buy Grit a small bag at TS was $7 I believe

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Grit turns nasty when wet also. What does everyone use to serve the OS and grit in to keep it dry? Otherwise, I have to remember to remove it before it rains, or I'm replacing it all after a rain. I've been dumping a lot of OS and grit this week. OS turns to a pasty concrete when wet. Is this ok for the chickens to eat or am I being overly anal about everything needing to be dry?

I keep mine in the coop. In cat food gravity feeders. Like these. I fill them maybe once a year for 20+ hens. I'm not lazy, I'm efficient!

 

[Bawkbok]

I keep mine in the coop. In cat food gravity feeders. Like these. I fill them maybe once a year for 20+ hens. I'm not lazy, I'm efficient!

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Great idea. I'm going to explore that option. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Altairsky]

Judging by the constant mess my chickens kept doing in an unfinished electric box under my porch, just to eat the construction gravel around it, I came to the conclusion that construction aggregate is the grit with the best flavor.
I then proceeded to buy a bucket of construction gravel, and toss it at my chickens in a playground style pile. They love it.

 

[WildNectarine]

I’m sure plenty of you know this, and it’s usually listed on the bag, but I would like to add here that many bagged commercial chicken grits aren’t just stones, they can have additives like vegetable oil and probiotics, and while I don’t mind, some people might, especially the all-organic people, so it might be it worth buying your own untreated stones.

 

[NatJ]

The feed got wet during a thunderstorm and turned into a thick glob of concrete mess essentially. Why would rain make the consistency be so different than when I add water to make a mash? It's not nearly as sticky. Is it due to the particulate matter in the air picked up by the rain?

I suspect either there is a different amount of water
Or the texture changes as it sits longer after getting wet
Or it behaves differently when it has room to expand (mash in a dish) than when it is confined inside a bag.

I don't know which is the actual correct answer, or whether it is a combination of factors, or whether it is actually something else.

I would not expect the rain to pick up enough particulate matter from the air to make a difference, but I could be wrong on that.

I dumped the feed thinking it would not be good for the girls to eat. How long does rain soaked feed take to mold anyway?

I would expect wet feed to be safe for at least a day, maybe two, but I don't know beyond that.

If you had a lot of freezer space, you could divide it into one-day portions and freeze them, then pull out one portion each day for the chickens to pick apart as it thaws (a good hot weather treat!) But realistically, given how much freezer space that would take up, throwing away the wet feed was probably the best choice.