Grit?

[3nglishteacher]

My 7 week olds have been on starter feed exclusively till this week when I started letting them out for a bit of free ranging. I also started giving them kitchen scraps - which they love - so I also set out a small dish of fine sand for them - which they gobbled up. Is that okay for grit? I'm still a bit fuzzy on this whole crop/grit thing but definitely know I don't want impacted crops &/or dead chicks b/c of my stupidity.

Thanks,
Karen

 

[HorseFeathers]

You can get chick grit or regular grit at a feed store. Sand might be too fine.

 

[Justino]

is grit really necessary?

 

[S0rcy]

As I understand from learning here and through a few books, if you feed anything other than chick starter, grit is necessary. A chicken can't chew it's food, it grinds it up in its crop with the aid of grit. If it isn't ground up, it becomes impacted and the chicken can die.

 

[hoosier]

I always have grit available, but if they are out on the ground, they can pick up bits of sand, small rocks, etc.