what do you use for grit?

[KDbeads]

Quote:
I haven't worried about it so far, where I normally get mine there is rarely any parking past the big boulders marking the parking lot from the walkway and flower/cactus beds. I pull mine from under the cacti.
But if you are worried, why not hose it down ? You could put it in a colander add a bit of dish soap, work it in and take a hose to it for a few minutes to wash all the nasty away.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I am going to try that , thanks

 

[cpartist]

A.T. Hagan :

Grit can be anything they can safely swallow, that isn't toxic, and that is harder than the food they are eating.

Mostly I use oyster shell for my laying birds. Yeah it's not as hard as granite, but it is harder than moistened grains which is all that it has to be. The gizzard doesn't care. It grinds them all together.

For reasons I've never understood it's hard enough to find simple oyster shell around here. Granite grit is next to impossible unless you want to buy it in those little pet sized bags. There is only one feed store that carries large bags and that's only because some folks at the university want it. I use it with my non-laying birds since they aren't going to be eating oyster shell. "Pigeon grit" is what they call it and that's the only size I've ever been able to find in a several county area.

Alternatively I use aquarium gravel which I can find easily enough. Be sure to get the non-coated, non-dyed natural gravel in a size that's appropriate for the bird usually somewhere between very coarse sand and extra fine gravel.

.....Alan.

Alan, I must be in the same area of Florida as you because I've had the same experience as you when trying to purchase grit at the feed stores here. One store came out with a bag of scratch when I asked for grit, another with a bag of oyster shell. One store finally mentioned the pigeon grit for UF. It is amazing to me because lots of folks around here have chickens and we are near a university with one of the best Ag schools in the country. And although the soil is sandy, we have no stone or rock of any size in it. I bought pigeon grit at the grocery store, but could only find some with calcium in it, so I couldn't use it for my younger birds. I bought a bag of builders sand and they devour it, making me think they need more than what they get on the ground. I'm afraid to feed scratch without proper size grit, but they have been raiding the peanut patch in my garden, eating whole peanuts with the shell, and I've been worried about them being able to digest these.

So thanks for the tip about the aquarium gravel. Can you tell me where to find it in the Gainesville/Alachua area?​

 

[muircheartaigh]

Can the application of grit in a coop effectively eliminate pecking (abusive) by providing a cure for boredom and some extra goodies to find in the litter? Having some difficulty with pecking in their first few days in their new living arrangements. It could very well be a re-establishment of the pecking order. Currently building one hospitality/isolation pen for a RIR with a bloody tail feather in hopes that the pecking on her will subside. All advice welcome.

 

[night prowler]

I have a shallow creek on my property that has a sandy bottom with all sized gravel, so i shovel it in five gallon buckets and pour them in my run and the chickens scratch around in it and eat the gravel they want.

 

[LindainTN]

Where do you get the mixture you use or do you mix it yourself?

 

[pdirt]

We have a gravel-bottomed river about 5 minutes down the road.

I sift out approximately the right size pieces, based on the size of the stuff that I bought earlier this year.

Of course! I will try that. My favorite feed store stopped carrying granite grit and now only has limestone grit, which I don't want because of the extra calcium. The other feed store wanted to sell me scratch, saying it was the same as grit. We have a river very nearby that surely has a gravel bottom.

 

[jruhle]

I live on the beach and scoop up buckets of sand shells and seaweed. They love digging around for the sand fleas!

 

[UrbanFarming]

I live in Santa Cruz on the central coast of California… Can I scoop up beach sand and give it to my chickens? Would this be ok for chicks as well?

 

[pdirt]

I live in Santa Cruz on the central coast of California… Can I scoop up beach sand and give it to my chickens? Would this be ok for chicks as well?

Sand, especially beach sand, will be too small of a particle size to function as grit for chickens. They need larger size pieces, think if a green pea was crushed into 5-6 pieces, that would be a good size for adult birds. Very coarse sand will work for chicks, but once they get older they will need larger grit. If your birds free range at all, they are likely getting all the grit they need. Crushed granite is very good to use for grit, check your feed stores, it should be cheap...50-cents a pound or less.

For new chicks, 1-5 weeks old, try tossing them a chunk of sod. Dig up a piece of grass complete with the dirt and they will go to town on it. It will get them used to eating fresh/live food and there is plenty of chick-sized grit in the dirt that they will pick out on their own. Just be sure the grass has not been treated with any chemical fertilizers or pest/herb-icides.