Sand and grit mix question.

[Chicanomama]

So I've decided to do sand in our run. After researching what types of sand are ok and what sands are in our area, first stressing over silica in the sand, I finally found some river sand at a local gravel etc place. Before I bought a half ton I asked the supplier if other people had used it for the same purpose as I was and he reassured me that I was getting the correct sand & that plenty of others used it for their coops/ run. I did feel it as well and it seemed to look like what I've seen posted on here except I wish it had a little more grit to it. So wanting to be sure, I bought a few bags of gritty pea gravel and thought I could bust up any big pieces and mix with the sand. My neighbor had a chick get really bad impacted crop,they tried everything but she didn't get better. They had never harvested a chick before ,so my husband and I had to show them how. I felt so bad for the poor thing that I even massaged some of it out while he had her upside down,but also if I hadn't have done so it would have been a huge mess because it was so big. He was worried about the mess and I was worried about her being so uncomfortable in her last few mins of life, I thought give her a little bit of relief. But back to my question. I can't stand the thought of one of my girls getting like that because I didn't do all I could to prevent it. So my question is, has anyone ever mixed a certain type of gravel or grit with their sand ? If so what kind? Is there something smaller ,but safe enough than pea gravel? And where did you get it from?

 

[ChickyCh00k]

If you are very concerned about the sand not having enough "grit", you can buy chicken grit (chick, grower, and adult sizes) at Tractor Supply, Chewy.com, Amazon, etc. Then, you just put it in a dish and they will eat it as needed.