Just a quick question...

[WhitneyMarie13]

So, my two older White Leghorn girls have been outside for nearly 2 weeks now and everything seems to be great. I just had a quick question regarding grit.

The girls are in their coop/run all day, and occasionally I'll let them free range (right now there isn't much but dirt in our backyard), and the floor of the run is just plain ol' dirt/sand (here in Arizona we sure know how to grow dirt

). I have a black tub filled with medium grain sand so that they can dust bathe, and so my question is, do I need to supply them with a specific type of grit or will the natural dirt, rock and sand in their coop serve that purpose?

They get treats and kitchen scraps a few times a week now along with their chick starter so I know it is important to have grit, but I've read mixed information throughout the web. Some places say to provide grit, others say that if they free range they don't ned it, and there are a few articles I've read that said they should have grit provided no matter what.

I have a feeling that the sand and natural dirt in their run is enough. The natural dirt is a mixture of fine, medium and some corse grain sand. I don't want to have to spend extra money on something if they really are getting it naturally!

Thanks for the feedback

 

[Percheron chick]

They don't need grit. That's what all that sand if for.

 

[Chickenlovin]

You might want to stack small pebbles around the coop. Grit is not needed but, they LOVE to eat it.

 

[WhitneyMarie13]

Thanks! Good feedback...you know how it can be...you feel like you're doing everything right then you read some article that makes you think, "wow, I'm doing it all wrong!" Just have to take things with a grain of salt I suppose...I think I'm going to invest in a small bag of grit and perhaps a bag of chick grit for my babies...someone had a great idea to nail old tuna fish cans to a wall in the run and fill one with grit and one with oyster shell (when they get older and start laying of course). My older girls love to peck, scratch and forage and anything new is very exciting to them