Oyster shell- they all ate it

[1muttsfan]

What do you mean by that? Or is it some secret code?

When you say grit, which type do you mean? do you mean for grinding purposes in the gizzard? That would be granite grit. Limestone is really too soft for digestion purposes, although maybe you have used it as a cheap (although poor) source of calcium in place of oyster shell grit.

There are many places where the local stone is too soft to work well for digestion purposes, or there just isn't any around. I happen to live on a big pile of dolomite, which is extremely hard and has been well crushed by glaciers, but my hens don't have much access to it so I still keep granite grit available for them. They also have a hopper full of oyster shell. If my hens spent more time outside, like Speckled Hen's do, they likely wouldn't need any granite at all.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

If you are addressing me I used the terms grit and limestone to mean two different things. Grit as you correctly pointed out is for grinding purposes and limestone is for strong eggshells and bones.

The bones are extremely important here because every molecule of limestone in an egg shell comes directly out of your hens' bones and the limestone in oyster shell is intended to replace the limestone that the hen has already withdrawn from her skeleton for use in the formation of eggshells.

Most of the calcium in laying pellets is in fact quarried limestone rock. The main difference between oyster shell and limestone rock is that limestone rock is much older than oyster shell and in fact limestone rock is oyster shell that has become sedimentary rock.

 

[getaclue]

chickengeorge, while it's not real often, roosters will eat oyster shell on occasion too, regardless of eating a high quality feed as their main staple. I find it happens more with roosters just past the age of 3 years old, and older. No, it's not being done as a substitute for grit. Initially when they're chicks, it's the novelty, but that wears off.