The Science Of Feeding Grit To Poultry

[barred2rock]

Out of all the kinds of rock available to my free range flocks down through the 40 yrs I've kept and butchered chickens, there is consistently one kind of stone I find in gizzards across the board...white quartz.  That seems to be the preferred stone of all kinds available, even when actual commercial grit is supplied.  That is also what we find in wild turkey gizzards. 

Not sure if any studies done on that but that's the one stone that I always find more prevalent than other kinds of rock.  Second to that are wild cherry pits.    Long, long after cherries have been eaten and are no longer to be found, I'll butcher and find cherry pits.  Not because they cannot be digested and passed along...if that was the case the birds would all die from impacted gizzards. 

Shhhhh, 3riverschick doesn't have a stake in quartz, but in granite mining.

 

[3riverschick]

Well look in the bibliography of grit cited in post 3 and see what it says about quartz. There Are 7 cites which discuss quartz in the book. It is keyword searchable.
Best,
Karen

 

[eggzntoast]

What's the grit? Can someone post a picture so i can better understand

 

[barred2rock]

What's the grit? Can someone post a picture so i can better understand

This is what I use:

This is commercial granite grit:

 

[eggzntoast]

This is what I use:

This is commercial granite grit:

Now is the grit a must have? I assumed they would get what they need from the ground once they got outside. I want to try to just let them live a natural life without the things the people try to assume they need if you know what i mean. My bf wants to clip their wings but i just want them to be able to fly because i feel we should be able to have a real free range farm. I feel that they would be able to get away from predators better if they could fly up in the trees. Any thoughts on this? I'm asking so that i can learn more about them.

 

[azygous]

No on clipping wings if your chickens are free range. What would be the point?

To see if your soil has appropriate natural grit, collect some random soil samples from around the premises the chickens free range. Get a strong hand lens and look at the granules. If they are all rounded, the gravel is unsuitable as grit. If you see nice sharp, angular edges, it's suitable. Also it should measure in size from just under 1/8 inch to just over 1/8 inch in diameter to provide a proper size assortment for different sized chickens.

If you have sand in your coops and runs, this sand should also contain the proper type grit described above. If it's rounded or of very small size, it's unsuitable. I have masonry sand in my coops and runs, and I have never in ten years bought commercial grit.

 

[wheels74]

My chickens are free range. Should I be feeding them grit or do they get enough from the soil?

 

[barred2rock]

My chickens are free range. Should I be feeding them grit or do they get enough from the soil?

See @azygous comment above.

 

[3riverschick]

...

Now is the grit a must have? I assumed they would get what they need from the ground once they got outside. I want to try to just let them live a natural life without the things the people try to assume they need if you know what i mean.

Hi,
Read the first 4 posts in this thread.
Best Regards,
Karen

 

[casportpony]

Subscribing.