How to serve calcium and grit?

[Reynolj5]

I just add it to their food. I assume they can free-choice feed out of that. Is that bad? I figure that that's how they would get it if they were free ranging, eating bugs and rocks as they pecked at other things.

 

[MeepBeep]

I just add it to their food.  I assume they can free-choice feed out of that.  Is that bad?  I figure that that's how they would get it if they were free ranging, eating bugs and rocks as they pecked at other things.

For insoluble grit like granite this is not a bad idea and many do it this way, but it becomes more tricky if you are mixing in the soluble oyster shell into the food... The reason being is that if you mix in the calcium based grits into the food, it's forcing the bird to intake calcium, this is AOK for laying hens (and thus the reason calcium is mixed into layer feeds) as long as it's within limits, but it can cause issues for people with mixed flocks that have male birds and non-laying birds and even worse for developing birds as the excess calcium can have negative effects in non-layers that have no real way to expel the excess calcium out of their bodies...

This is why most prefer to offer the calcium based grit aka oyster shell on the side, this allows the birds that need it to eat it and the birds that don't need it to ignore it.... And chickens bodies are very in tune to how much calcium they intake and need, and do a very good job of regulating calcium intake if offered as a side...

 

[Intheswamp]

That assumes the chicken's body has the ability to chemically break the trace elements out of the granite that is is primarily silica based, into something they can digest, and to my knowledge most animals digestive tracts can't do this... The mechanical grinding does not do this either it takes a chemical reaction to unbind the trace elements, this is generally done on the microbial level in the ground or in specialized organisms... I'm not saying a chicken can't get anything out of it, they very well might be able to garnish something but it's sill going to be minute in the end, chances are a mouth full of dirt will provide more trace minerals then a month or even year of insoluble grit will...

Good conversation. Could the acidic environment of the digestive system help to pull/change/eat some of the minerals from the fine grit that the chicken could then absorb through it's digestive tract?

The underlined part... That's why they call it "trace elements"...it's just a trace of it.

 

[MeepBeep]

That assumes the chicken's body has the ability to chemically break the trace elements out of the granite that is is primarily silica based, into something they can digest, and to my knowledge most animals digestive tracts can't do this... The mechanical grinding does not do this either it takes a chemical reaction to unbind the trace elements, this is generally done on the microbial level in the ground or in specialized organisms... I'm not saying a chicken can't get anything out of it, they very well might be able to garnish something but it's sill going to be minute in the end, chances are a mouth full of dirt will provide more trace minerals then a month or even year of insoluble grit will...

Good conversation.  Could the acidic environment of the digestive system help to pull/change/eat some of the minerals from the fine grit that the chicken could then absorb through it's digestive tract?

IMO probably not to any measurable degree since most of the granite is insoluble in weak acids and the stuff that is soluble in the weak acids breaks down very, very slowly thus it likely will take far more time to break loose those trace elements then the granite resides in the chickens digestive tract before it's passed...

On the other hand when it comes to calcium carbonate aka oyster shell, if you put that in a weak acid you can instantly see it dissolving plain as day, fizzing away, and if you did some controlled measurements you would even find it dissolves in neutral water since it's such a strong base...

The underlined part...  That's why they call it "trace elements"...it's just a trace of it.

But, in this case the entirety of the trace elements in the granite is a trace amount, and only a small fraction of that original trace 'might' actually be released and absorbed, so it's a very, very minute amount in the end... That is to not say it's useless but chances are the chickens are getting far more of those trace elements from other sources...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I have a high tech means of oyster shell distribution. It's kept in a large coffee can with lid on it right under the coop and once a week I open and toss out a few handfuls on the ground then put lid back on.

I didn't read where you live or if your birds are on dirt but generally if you birds have access to soil they find all the grit they need all by themselves. Small stone is grit.

For feed I too use a non medicated starter/grower for all the birds but once the youngest of the year are near 10 weeks and able to take it I move the entire flock over to a pellet form feed. There are various all flock feeds a person can use what we use is turkey/gamebird finisher. You'll find you don't get nearly the waste when pellets are used.