I am confused on the whole grit situation?!

[cmom]

I have been putting granite grit and oyster shells in the birds feed for years but not every time I feed them. Sometimes I get a soft shell or thin shell and then I give them some oyster shells. I'm sure most feed is adequate. That is just the way I do it and everyone is different. I tried separate dishes but when you have between 200 and 500 birds (including chicks), it's a little different. I have chick coops, grow-out coops, breeding coops, bachelor coops and not everyone needs the oyster shells.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If the birds have access to forage with various sized small stones, it is true that they don't need additional grit.
However, grit is cheap and providing some in a separate container is a good idea anyway.
While it is true that birds only fed chicken feed may not need grit, that mostly applies to birds fed mash. Grit helps develop the gizzard and will improve their nutrient uptake if particles in crumbles/pellets are more finely ground in the gizzard.
I sprinkle a bit of chick grit on the floor of the brooder the first week and then provide appropriately sized grit in a separate container their whole life.
This may be anecdotal evidence but I sold some chicks to a friend and as they matured she got more cockerels than she wanted so I agreed to trade one of them for one of my pullets. I butchered that cockerel with some of those I raised from the same hatching. My cockerels' gizzards were twice the size of her bird's.
It's important to not mix things like grit/oyster shell with their feed. They should be able to choose what they need.
If oyster shell is mixed with the feed, the chickens have no choice but to consume what may be excessive calcium if they want to eat.
Birds not producing egg shells do just fine with about 1% calcium which is the amount in all but layer feed. Most layer feed is about 4% calcium which is intended to replace the calcium stores in the body when that is lost when an egg is in the shell gland. However, all backyard birds don't lay at the same rate. A very productive pullet may need more than 4%, hence the need to provide oyster shell on the side. An older bird laying an egg a week or less, may not need much more than the 1% calcium in an all flock feed.
High producing birds on an egg farms consuming a 4% calcium feed may end up with cage layer fatigue or rickets. Producers don't really care because the birds will all be replaced shortly.
People mixing oyster shell with feed for years may think there is no ill effect. Excess calcium affects kidney health. A chicken has 2 kidneys with 3 segments each. As long as there are still 2 functioning segments continue to produce and appear healthy. Once one of the remaining functioning segments fails, the bird can die within 24 hours with no symptoms. If the owner doesn't send the bird to a lab for necropsy, they'll never know the cause was gout and kidney failure.

 

[cmom]

I have been putting granite grit and sometimes oyster shells in the birds feed for years but not every time I feed them. Sometimes I get a soft shell or thin shell and then I give them some oyster shells. I'm sure most feed is adequate. That is just the way I do it and everyone is different. I tried separate dishes but when you have between 200 and 500 birds (including chicks), it's a little different. I have chick coops, grow-out coops, breeding coops, bachelor coops and not everyone needs the oyster shells.

My opinion is whatever works best for you. The grit does settle in the bottom of the feeders and they take what they want. Most of the time in the past when I put bowls in the coops it would get tipped over even though the bowls had heavy bottoms to keep them from tipping over and the grit would end not in the bowl anymore so I stopped doing it that way. There is a thread somewhere on BYC about this.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I agree, bowls aren't the best way to administer things like grit and oyster shell. I am using cage cups that clip onto a metal rod attached to the wall or under roof portion of the run.