Switching from chick grit to grower girt/ when?

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

My chicks are 9 weeks old. They have been going out to a grassy run for over a week. (Won't be long before the grass is gone.) They have had chick grit while in the coop because some of them were munching on shavings and small feathers. I have two bags of granite grit made in Mount Airy, NC. One bag is chick grit and the other is grower. At what age should I switch from chick to grower grit?

 

[BellevueOmlet]

By 9 weeks, they are probably large enough to handle the full size grit, but if you have a supply, I would finish out the samll grit and then move on to the bigger stuff.

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

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My bags of both are 50 lb. bags. It would take forever to finish either. I plan to give some away. Just needed advice about when I could switch to grower girt.

 

[Tracydr]

If you're seeing them eat many feathers, you need to up their protein or give them more variety. Are they getting any greens, kitchen scraps or sprouts? Try sprouting mung beans, lentils, fenugreek, clover, alfalfa, mustard seed.You can get all these in bulk at a health food store, coop, or I get fenugreek and mustard from a spice store online, two pounds at a time.
Regular chicken feed tends to be stale and the quality of some of the vitamins can suffer. Plus, some proteins are better utilized from fresh foods, hard boiled eggs, sprouted legumes, cooked meats, yogurts.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://cherrystonegrit.com/grit_sizes.html
Straight from the bag of this brand grit:
size #1 is for up to 4 weeks
size #2 is 4-7 weeks (grower)
size #3 is for over 7 weeks

I might add that I continue mixing in some #2 because I have bantams. So I mix size #2 and #3 in everyday. And oyster shell.

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

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They eat grass out in the run but they are eating the small feathers that fall off, no picking going on. Hum, at 9 weeks old I thought I shouldn't give snacks.

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

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The chick grit I have looks like size #1. The grower looks like a combination of #2 & #3. Maybe it would be good to just mix some and let them take what they want.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
The chick grit I have looks like size #1. The grower looks like a combination of #2 & #3. Maybe it would be good to just mix some and let them take what they want.

A lot of people just put it in a hopper or pan off to the side. But since I feed a huge amount of whole grains and seeds I like to encourage consumption. They still leave it if they don't want it.

I do this because with oyster shell, their shells get flimsy and thin if I don't mix the oyster shell into the mix, even though I have separate pans for oyster shell in the runs.