How to feed grit

[Willie01]

just wondering how most of you feed grit ? I am feeding #2 grit to 9 week old hens, I use a spare galvanized feeder hanging that I put the grit in but they don’t seem to be using it, so now I just add a handful of grit to their food every day, that seems to work, Also how much food should 12 birds be eating per day? I go thru about 2 - 3 lbs per day, plus they get left over table scraps

 

[azygous]

Grit is something many flock keepers either neglect to think about or overthink it.

Grit is something chickens will find by scratching around on the ground. It's second nature to them to do this, so that is usually the ideal place to scatter grit.

Mixing it into food runs a risk, though small, of them ingesting too much grit that can weigh heavily on crop and gizzard and crowd out room for food. If one has construction sand as bedding in their run, commercial grit may not even be necessary. Chickens that free range on natural soil other than 100% clay, also find suitable grit by scratching around all day.

 

[DobieLover]

just wondering how most of you feed grit ? I am feeding #2 grit to 9 week old hens, I use a spare galvanized feeder hanging that I put the grit in but they don’t seem to be using it, so now I just add a handful of grit to their food every day, that seems to work, Also how much food should 12 birds be eating per day? I go thru about 2 - 3 lbs per day, plus they get left over table scraps

Just feed the grit on the side in it's own container. They will eat what they need.
It sounds like about the right amount of feed for your pullets when accounting for waste.

 

[KIMEng]

just wondering how most of you feed grit ? I am feeding #2 grit to 9 week old hens, I use a spare galvanized feeder hanging that I put the grit in but they don’t seem to be using it, so now I just add a handful of grit to their food every day, that seems to work, Also how much food should 12 birds be eating per day? I go thru about 2 - 3 lbs per day, plus they get left over table scraps

I do what you do put a handful or 2 in their feed, i have 3 laying pullets (18 wks),so they get a cup of the laying pellets each with sunflower seeds, corn, grain and oyster shell mixed in. They eat most all of it. Then i give them a veggie treat in the afternoon-mostly the leftover raw veggies of what we were eating that day squash-zucchini or yellow , orange beets, yellow tomato, a little bit of fruit peach or mango comes to about a cup or so of in all. Their happy girls !!!

 

[IamRainey]

Get a couple of these nifty cups for optional items like grit, oyster shell and eggshell.



They're very affordable and durable. Recycled tuna cans, etc. are even more affordable, of course, but these have the clever, heavy duty hangers that slide onto hardware cloth and keep the stuff in them up off the ground so they don't fill with dirt or bedding. And they're really secure so they won't get knocked off and end up buried so you have to hunt for them just to refill them. Meanwhile, if you want to knock the cups out occasionally and clean them, that's easy too.

Anywaaaaaay, all you have to do is make grit available. The chickens will know what to do and when they need it.

 

[GC-Raptor]

just wondering how most of you feed grit ?

I keep it in a 40 ounce pail hung with an eye screw. Easy to remove. I drilled several 3/32 holes in the bottom to drain moisture. . I also mix it into Scratch Grains that I toss on the ground in the as a treat. 40 to 1 ratio. 10 ounces Grit to 25 lbs Scratch Grains.
They don't need much because it lasts several days in the gizzards.
Oyster Shells dissolve quicker. I feed a All-Flock/Flock Raiser feed, so I go through a 50 lb bag of Oyster Shells before I do a 25 lb bag of Poultry Grit. I also give them Oyster Shells the same way as Poultry Grit. Separately and mixed in the Scratch in the same ratio.

Also how much food should 12 birds be eating per day? I go thru about 2 - 3 lbs per day, plus they get left over table scraps

That's average for 12 Chickens. The average for full size chickens is a 1/4 to 1/3 pounds a day.
They consume more in cold weather. During January 10 chickens ate 2.94 lbs a day. Last month they consumed 1.66 lbs a day on average. A 50 lb bag lasted 30 days. During January 17 days. GC

 

[Sueby]

I keep a container in the coop, one side grit, one side oyster shell. Now that they spend more time in the bigger run they don't eat much grit.

 

[MountainGaurdian]

I always mix a small handful of grit and a mid sized handful of oyster shell into each can of grain that I feed out. I have found putting them out by themselves my chickens wont' eat either of those things. Small amount of each added into the food mix on the other hand seems to work great.