The Scoop On Grit (Help me Understand)

[Ridgerunner]

Mary, it can get even more confusing. Don’t we always come up with ways to muck things up? In the UK and probably other places, there are two different types of grit. One is called insoluble grit. That’s the stuff they use in the gizzard to grind up their food. But oyster shell and other calcium supplements are called soluble grit. That’s the stuff that the acidic digestive juices dissolve so they can use the calcium in it.

So for a lot of our forum members just saying grit isn’t enough. They might not know which grit we are talking about.

 

[alician]

Chickens can use almost any rock they find as grit. The rock or piece of rock will stay in their gizzard until it is ground into sand, then it passes on through and out the rear end. They use several different pieces at one time.

They can use a variety of sizes depending on their size. A grown full-sized chicken can use pebbles up to the size of a green pea. Baby chicks use pieces closer to coarse sand. Adults can use coarse sand too but it goes through their system pretty fast.

The harder the rock type the longer it lasts. The grit you buy is granite. When they quarry granite they run the debris over screens to sort out the sizes they want. Granite is really hard. A pea sized piece might last a month in their gizzard before it is ground down. Softer rocks last a lot less time. There is no good answer I’m aware of for how much grit they need. It depends on the grit they are eating.

You’d be surprised on how much grit they can get from most dirt but if you want you can just toss some small gravel in the run and let them search for it. They can self-regulate how much they eat. A good source of small gravel might be a sand or rock bar in a stream or river.

Thank you! That was exactly the sort of informative response I was looking for

 

[alician]

Chickens get calcium from oyster shell grit. It will make the egg shells good and hard to help prevent breakage. Depending on where you live, some rocks such as limestone contain calcium. We only had sandstone rocks where I grew up and we gave them oyster shells.

I have our girls on layer feed and give them crushed eggshells, so I think they are getting the calcium they need. I will probably still pick up some oyster shell next time I'm at the Tractor Supply store.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If Layer feed is all they eat they should be getting enough calcium from that alone. Layer feed should have about 4% calcium where most other chicken feed has only 1%. They may pick up additional calcium from some plants or creepy crawlies they eat if they forage. If your soil has limestone as a native rock they can get some calcium from that. But if you feed them treats they may not be getting enough calcium. I think it is a good idea to offer a calcium supplement on the side, not mixed with their feed. If they need it they should eat it. If they don’t need it they probably won’t eat much.

Your egg shells can tell you how you are doing. If the egg shells are hard, what you are doing is working. If they are thin or soft, they probably need more calcium.

It gets more complicated, it always does. On rare occasions you can get a hen that just does not eat the calcium she needs even if it is available or, if she eats it, her body does not use it properly. There is just something wrong with that hen. In general, if you have a problem with most or every hen in your flock you have a flock problem and need to address the entire flock. If all the hens but one are fine, you have a hen problem and need to address the individual, not the flock.

It is fairly common for a pullet just starting to lay to lay some strange eggs. They may be soft-shelled, no shells, no whites, no yolks, double yolked, weird shapes, really strange. Her internal egg making factory has a lot of parts. A pullet just starting to lay may just need to work out some bugs. Give her a couple of weeks before you start to worry. As complicated as that internal egg making factory is the remarkable thing is that most get it right to start with.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Oyster shell is also known as ' calcium carbonate ' . It's a good idea to have a bowl in the run , under cover, for ' free take ' . Calcium , phosphorus and vit D3 are of the utmost importance for layers, however if you have Roos and young birds in your flock , too much calcium in the feed can be disastrous.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I use oyster shells too as I don't use layer feed, always have mixed ages so keep all on one feed. This too I just toss a handful on the ground and let them take what they want. For a 6 to 8 layer flock a handful of shell once a week or so is plenty.

 

[AnotherKim]

That's a good question. Maybe because it's softer & it digests? My pullets are just starting to lay & they've been eating oyster shell about 3 weeks now. Tonight we had scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, & toast. My husband commented on how thick the shells are compared to store bought. I'm sure it's the oyster shell.

I noticed that with my chickens, too. I used ground egg shells instead of Oyster shell. Why pay for calcium when you can get it free, lol. I also add construction sand for dust bathing, bedding, and grit. At three bucks a 100 lb bag, I'm happy with it.

 

[Folly's place]

The poultry experts at our university say that laying hens will not get adequate calcium from egg shells, because they dissolve too fast in the bird, and aren't available in the early morning when she is building the shell. They recommend either layer feed or flock raiser type feed, with oyster shell on the side. Egg shells are okay to feed, but not as a good source of calcium for high producing hens. Mary

 

[redsix]

Could you feed chickens agricultural lime or put it in their food then, if the oyster shell is only a calcium source?

 

[Folly's place]

No, bad idea. Mary