What is "grit"? and many other questions about grit.

[Poulets De Cajun]

OMG!!! I didn't realize everytime I was refreshing my brower while the maintenance was happening it was posting. Can someone delete the duplicates?

I thought my computer was messing up until I got the "maintenance..." message

 

[alalele]

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First let me say what a beauty of a silky you have as your icon! so very cute! I saw an ad in a local paper and someone was selling pullets and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind... I have a white angora bunny (age 3.5) and the white silkies remind me of her

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/8/3/3/8/833856/6127736.jpg


Thanks for the pic comparison! I knew what oyster shell was since I have a huge bag, but haven't ever seen the 'grit' in person. You'd think that the feed store employees would at least know the difference, but thank goodness for the internet so I can learn all this here.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

I dont know about your area, but I dont rely on the feed store employees around here at all.

They are usually bratty teenagers who really aren't concerned with being there at work anyway....

The most I'll ask them is "Do you carry.....?" or "Where is the ....?"

I had one try to tell me what grit was the other day and if you could have heard his explanation, you would have thought he was describing road pavement!

BTW.... I'm originally from Vermillion Parish. Been in Texas for 7 years now....

 

[alalele]

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Really??? I didn't know that and do hope it to be true. I'm still learning and am just full of questions

The thing is that I don't see any small stones in our soil here. Could that be different based on location/ state/soil conditions or just common sense fact? I ask because our soil is a light THIN layer of top soil (I assume from decayed leaves, etc) and then beneath that is pure solid clay. It's all natural to the area. The only things I've brought in are... let's see... builders sand, wood shavings.. I CAN see the tiny rocks in the builders sand that I put in the run. They have worked all that into the ground too though... down to dirt now. (I have refreshed the dirt with wood shavings I got bags for free but they seem freaked out until it settles down, gets wet.. then seem happier once it's scratched in too.. so much for the shavings! they seem to like the dirt better!) So I throw handfuls of builders sand into the dirt run so they can scratch for it and use it as grit since it's all I have. I also give them a handful of scratch most days... but that all has seemed fine.

Now they are getting access to a movable run for fresh greens and bugs, etc and it came to mind some pictures I'd seen here of impacted crops. The pictures showed grass and straw... and since I've recently introduced rye grass hay (looks like straw to me) for the new nest boxes... and have seen them picking at it and eating it, I started to wonder if I needed a REAL grit for them. Just want to avoid any problems early on, ya know? These birds have gotten too precious to me now after hand raising them and having such a small flock, I can't afford to go through any losses.

I do appreciate any input and advice on any of this... as I only want the best for these birds.. so please understand that's where all my questions are coming from.. I'm probably over thinking it like I usually do on most things

sorry this is so long... :|

 

[WoodlandWoman]

They'll probably be fine. If you can and want to pick up a small bag of grit, there's nothing wrong with doing that. You could just leave a small bowl out and then you wouldn't have to worry about it.

I actually see 50 lb. bags of grit for sale around here. I wonder if it's because a lot of people don't free range or because the winters are so long and snow covered. 50 lbs is a lot of grit! At least it doesn't go bad.

 

[sundance]

we live on rocky soil, and have PLENTY of rocks,I think they reproduce overnight, I bought some grit for parakeets,will it be all right for them, they free range part of the day.their shells aren't all that hard so I also save their shells and let them dry out and crush them before feeding them back to my hens. Right now they are molting, and boy do they look funny. marrie