Should I be worried?

[PanosGR]

Maybe the growers pellets doesn't have enough calcium so that's why she's eating a lot if grit, now that she's laying you should start feeding her layers feed

That could be the reason. Thanks

 

[K0k0shka]

Thank you for your reply. I actually bought it as grit from a pet shop but I have noticed it contains pieces of broken oyster shell or whatever else.
I can show you a picture of the product so you can have a look and tell me if it is just rocks, mix, or oyster shell and other calcium rich materials. I have one question though. Does grit leave the digestive system or stay in the gizzard forever?
I did not let her eat her grit yesterday and today but I am not sure if it's the right for her as she has started making a mess with the pot soil and she acts like she looks for something.

Waiting for your next reply, thanks!

The grit in the gizzard gets ground down gradually from use, eventually gets too small to be useful and is passed out with the poop. Like how any tool that is used a lot, and does hard friction work, gets ground down over time and gets smaller and smaller. So the birds do need to replenish it periodically, but since it takes so long to wear the rocks down, they last quite a while in their gizzards and don't need frequent replenishing. So chickens eat grit rarely and in small amounts, only when they need to replenish their old worn down rocks. By comparison, they need to eat oyster shell, eggshell, or other types of calcium regularly and in larger amounts, if they are actively laying and producing eggs that need shells. So they eat the calcium product (oyster shell, eggshell, etc.) in much larger amounts and regularly, and they eat the rock product infrequently and in much, much smaller amounts.

You can post a picture and I'll do my best, but it would just be visual guesswork. Do you have the packaging that it came in? Does the packaging say what it is and what its purpose is?

 

[saysfaa]

If we (you, us, or both) can't tell from looking at it or the packaging, you can probably tell by putting it in vinegar or lemon juice. Calcium will dissolve, rock will not. It will take some time - maybe a day or a few days. I can put some oyster shell in vinegar to get an idea of timing. It will vary depending on the acidity of the vinegar or lemon juice and the size of the grit.

 

[PanosGR]

The grit in the gizzard gets ground down gradually from use, eventually gets too small to be useful and is passed out with the poop. Like how any tool that is used a lot, and does hard friction work, gets ground down over time and gets smaller and smaller. So the birds do need to replenish it periodically, but since it takes so long to wear the rocks down, they last quite a while in their gizzards and don't need frequent replenishing. So chickens eat grit rarely and in small amounts, only when they need to replenish their old worn down rocks. By comparison, they need to eat oyster shell, eggshell, or other types of calcium regularly and in larger amounts, if they are actively laying and producing eggs that need shells. So they eat the calcium product (oyster shell, eggshell, etc.) in much larger amounts and regularly, and they eat the rock product infrequently and in much, much smaller amounts.

You can post a picture and I'll do my best, but it would just be visual guesswork. Do you have the packaging that it came in? Does the packaging say what it is and what its purpose is?

The grit did not have any information in it's bag. In fact I saw one of the employees putting the product in a disposable bug and then sold it to me. Because she was not laying eggs then, I asked for something that helps for digestion but the fact that I see tiny shells in it makes me think it could just be for eggs instead of digestion. Every single particle in there is no bigger than a sesame seed. That's why she eats it like it's food for a moment then stops.

 

[saysfaa]

Size of a sesame seed is not big enough even if it is rock.

I'm guessing she is feeling the need for grit (rock) in how her gizzard feels and trying to fix that.

Can you get gravel, maybe from outside? Having a range of sizes would be best - 5mm-6mm and bigger.

Edit to add: oh. The internet says sesame seeds are about 5mm (hm, long or wide?) so maybe I'm wrong. But offering rock in bigger sizes is very unlikely to hurt anything even if it doesn't help.

 

[K0k0shka]

The grit did not have any information in it's bag. In fact I saw one of the employees putting the product in a disposable bug and then sold it to me. Because she was not laying eggs then, I asked for something that helps for digestion but the fact that I see tiny shells in it makes me think it could just be for eggs instead of digestion. Every single particle in there is no bigger than a sesame seed. That's why she eats it like it's food for a moment then stops.

Wow, sesame seed! That's way too small to be either grit or calcium. Having no label on the bag is even more confusing. I have no idea then... I'd say ask the person who sold it to you, but that may not be helpful either - often the people hired to work at stores do only that, work at the store, without having in-depth knowledge of the things they are selling. They may even spread misinformation in their attempt to answer customers' questions with anything instead of admitting they don't know. I'd say throw out the bag of mysterious particles and look for proper grit (rocks the size of dry peas and lentils) and proper calcium (oyster shells ground to a similar size, or even better, save the shells of eggs you eat and feed those to the chickens, crushed to about the size of a fingernail).

 

[K0k0shka]

P.S. Chickens are stupid and will eat just about anything that resembles food - styrofoam crumbles, nuts and bolts, etc. That's why the pieces need to be large enough to be identifiable for what they are - so she can see that a shell is a shell and not just ground up powder of unknown origin. Sesame seeds are too small, it may just look like ground up feed to her and she may be eating it thinking it's feed. And rocks need to be larger so that they can do their job and grind, if they're too small (like coarse sand) they won't grind effectively and will probably just be pooped out.

 

[PanosGR]

Wow, sesame seed! That's way too small to be either grit or calcium. Having no label on the bag is even more confusing. I have no idea then... I'd say ask the person who sold it to you, but that may not be helpful either - often the people hired to work at stores do only that, work at the store, without having in-depth knowledge of the things they are selling. They may even spread misinformation in their attempt to answer customers' questions with anything instead of admitting they don't know. I'd say throw out the bag of mysterious particles and look for proper grit (rocks the size of dry peas and lentils) and proper calcium (oyster shells ground to a similar size, or even better, save the shells of eggs you eat and feed those to the chickens, crushed to about the size of a fingernail).

Here is a picture of the sample. Take a look

 

[PanosGR]

I'm not sure but I think I see shell don't you think?

 

[fluffycrow]

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