Should I be worried?

[K0k0shka]

Here is a picture of the sample. Take a look

It's hard to tell how large the pieces are without having anything next to them for scale... Can you take a picture of some of it in your hand? It looks like coarse sand to me, and the pieces that look like shells look like crushed beach shells like the ones you'd find in beach sand. There are lots of different types of shells and not all of them are good for the purpose of providing calcium to chickens. Oyster shell is the one usually used, as opposed to just any shell, because it's very crumbly and dissolves/digests easily, so the calcium is more easily available to the chicken's body. In fact it crumbles so easily that there's often dust at the bottom of the bag where the pieces rubbed against each other. Also, the oyster shell sold for chickens is usually white. And the granite sold as grit is fairly uniform in color. The particles in your picture come in different colors, which makes me think it's a collection of different materials, and neither grit (rock) sold for digestion, nor shell sold for calcium, would have this kind of varied look. This looks like it's a third product, but unfortunately I can't tell what... It really looks like coarse beach sand to me, and that won't meet either need of the chickens (may even be bad for them if it is indeed sand and hasn't been washed to remove the sea salt from it).

 

[PanosGR]

Did the employee disclose the name of the product they sold to you? If so, what was it? I personally have not seen anything meant for digestion in the pet stores around me. Only cuttlefish bone and calcium blocks meant for small exotic birds

Not exactly, I asked the employee for grit that helps for digestion and they said they have in stock. Then filled the disposable bug with it and I bought it.

 

[fluffycrow]

It's hard to tell how large the pieces are without having anything next to them for scale... Can you take a picture of some of it in your hand? It looks like coarse sand to me, and the pieces that look like shells look like crushed beach shells like the ones you'd find in beach sand. There are lots of different types of shells and not all of them are good for the purpose of providing calcium to chickens. Oyster shell is the one usually used, as opposed to just any shell, because it's very crumbly and dissolves/digests easily, so the calcium is more easily available to the chicken's body. In fact it crumbles so easily that there's often dust at the bottom of the bag where the pieces rubbed against each other. Also, the oyster shell sold for chickens is usually white. And the granite sold as grit is fairly uniform in color. The particles in your picture come in different colors, which makes me think it's a collection of different materials, and neither grit (rock) sold for digestion, nor shell sold for calcium, would have this kind of varied look. This looks like it's a third product, but unfortunately I can't tell what... It really looks like coarse beach sand to me, and that won't meet either need of the chickens (may even be bad for them if it is indeed sand and hasn't been washed to remove the sea salt from it).

It looks like coarse aquarium sand to me. I have definitely seen this type of sand in the fish Isles

 

[PanosGR]

It's hard to tell how large the pieces are without having anything next to them for scale... Can you take a picture of some of it in your hand? It looks like coarse sand to me, and the pieces that look like shells look like crushed beach shells like the ones you'd find in beach sand. There are lots of different types of shells and not all of them are good for the purpose of providing calcium to chickens. Oyster shell is the one usually used, as opposed to just any shell, because it's very crumbly and dissolves/digests easily, so the calcium is more easily available to the chicken's body. In fact it crumbles so easily that there's often dust at the bottom of the bag where the pieces rubbed against each other. Also, the oyster shell sold for chickens is usually white. And the granite sold as grit is fairly uniform in color. The particles in your picture come in different colors, which makes me think it's a collection of different materials, and neither grit (rock) sold for digestion, nor shell sold for calcium, would have this kind of varied look. This looks like it's a third product, but unfortunately I can't tell what... It really looks like coarse beach sand to me, and that won't meet either need of the chickens (may even be bad for them if it is indeed sand and hasn't been washed to remove the sea salt from it).

Yes here it is. It's the same sample but zoomed.

 

[fluffycrow]

Not exactly, I asked the employee for grit that helps for digestion and they said they have in stock. Then filled the disposable bug with it and I bought it.

I see. Did you get this from any know chain pet store, or the neighbourhood-type? I guess the only way to ask for it would be "χαλικάκια για την χώνεψη". Wondering if they sold you coarse aquarium sand, high in calcium

 

[K0k0shka]

Yes here it is. It's the same sample but zoomed.

There isn't a lot of hand visible in the picture for me to be able to tell what size it is... judging by the folds in your palm, I'd say it's too fine, maybe if you posted the whole picture without it being cropped so tightly, like if we could see the fingers of the hand, that would be more helpful. I have a fish tank and the aquarium "sand" they sell for fish tanks over here looks similar, but is coarser. The particles are actually big enough to maybe serve as grit. The sand in your picture looks like that same idea, but with much smaller particles. It is possible that they're trying to repurpose aquarium sand and sell it for chickens... but that won't do the job...

 

[PanosGR]

I see. Did you get this from any know chain pet store, or the neighbourhood-type? I guess the only way to ask for it would be "χαλικάκια για την χώνεψη". Wondering if they sold you coarse aquarium sand, high in calcium

This is exactly what I asked for and this is what they gave me. It's definitely not a known or chain pet shop but seems to be a family business in my opinion.

 

[PanosGR]

There isn't a lot of hand visible in the picture for me to be able to tell what size it is... judging by the folds in your palm, I'd say it's too fine, maybe if you posted the whole picture without it being cropped so tightly, like if we could see the fingers of the hand, that would be more helpful. I have a fish tank and the aquarium "sand" they sell for fish tanks over here looks similar, but is coarser. The particles are actually big enough to maybe serve as grit. The sand in your picture looks like that same idea, but with much smaller particles. It is possible that they're trying to repurpose aquarium sand and sell it for chickens... but that won't do the job...

I will show you how it looks like compared to my finger. The particles in the second photo are bigger because I edited it to look like this so you can see every particle in detail.

 

[K0k0shka]

Here’s what poultry grit looks like in the US - granite rocks sold for digestion in the gizzard:

And this is what aquarium sand looks like (compared to my hand). Aquarium sand - “gravel” - is coarser, too, which makes cleaning it easier.

 

[fluffycrow]

Yeah, those are usually hit or miss with their sales. Once I had asked for the RC Cavalier recipe kibble and I was given RC

This is exactly what I asked for and this is what they gave me. It's definitely not a known or chain pet shop but seems to be a family business in my opinion.

Japanese chin.



I'm fairly confident you were given coarse aquarium sand