newbie grit question

[penknee]

i'm planning on free feeding my hens once they arrive and will allow them to free range a bit my yard. I'd like to know if i can mix grit and oyster shell together in a secondary small feeder for them to peck at when needed?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Free range birds eat a lot of pebbles, sand, etc and don't normally need any supplemental grit.

 

[donrae]

Yes, they will sort through and take what they need. Free ranging birds usually don't need supplemental grit, but that depends on where they're ranging and how much. I'd keep it out for them, just like you're saying.

Good luck with your girls!

 

[wren]

Ya it does not hurt anything to give them grit. Offer it and make it easy on them. If I were you I wouldn't mix the two. I would salt their food with grit by tossing a little on top. With my free range girls I would put piles of grit on bare patches of cement here and there and they ate what they needed.

When you don't offer grit you are forcing the bird to search for it. It is fine under ideal conditions. But why take the chance?

 

[thixen]

I have an old broken bunny feeder that I keep some grit in. Mine free range a bit so they more or less ignore the grit but I do find one or two pecking through it now and then. Also when I feed them treats that I think they would need more grit to process I normally toss a little of it on top of the grit in the feeder. Probably over kill but I feel better that way. Funny side thing I have one that will refuse to take it from the feeder but will rush to it when one of the other hens knock some of it out on the ground. I guess she only likes the stuff from the ground ^_^

 

[Judy]

Mine don't take a lot of either but they do take some so I keep it. At less than $10 a year in consumption, I can handle it! I don't like to mix them. Roos and chicks don't need calcium. I have read that some hens seem to need more calcium than others so I wouldn't mix them if my flock were all hens. Easy enough to make a dispenser out of the bottom of a plastic bottle or the like.