When can I start giving oyster shells?

[Brienna]

I am having a very hard time finding grit for my now 9-10 week old chicks. I would love to start giving them treats and I know they need grit for that. The people at my feed store assure me that Oyster shells are fine to give to them (they don't have grit, only Oyster shells) but I've read that the extra calcium might not be good for them. I looked for parakeet grit and the one I've found with less calcium was 10%... should I just wait until they are of laying age to give them treats since I can't find grit?

Thanks!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

No - do not use oyster shell at this point or as a replacement for grit - and don't take future advice from the people at your feed store.
Are your chickens confined to a coop or do they have access to an outdoor run/allowed to free range in your yard? If they are outside, what is your soil like?
Are you actually *in* Quebec or in a small town in the area of Quebec? Only asking because if you are in Quebec I would imagine there is likely more than one feed store so it might be time to start shopping around for one more likely to have what you need and less likely to offer bad advice.

 

[ronmauldin]

Should wait till laying age, about 18 weeks, to give oyster shell. If you can't find grit locally, you can get it online from lots of places like Amazon.

 

[Brienna]

No - do not use oyster shell at this point or as a replacement for grit - and don't take future advice from the people at your feed store.
Are your chickens confined to a coop or do they have access to an outdoor run/allowed to free range in your yard? If they are outside, what is your soil like?
Are you actually *in* Quebec or in a small town in the area of Quebec? Only asking because if you are in Quebec I would imagine there is likely more than one feed store so it might be time to start shopping around for one more likely to have what you need and less likely to offer bad advice.

That's what I thought, thank you for your advice. I'm in a small town outside of Québec city. There are not a lot of feed stores and the one's I've called don't seem to not know what I'm talking about...it's frustrating. My chickens are in their coop for now and the run will be done this week. It is mostly grass and dirt, so I'm not sure if they will be getting enough ''grit'' in there?

I have looked online for grit but the ones I found all ship from the US and the shipping is more than twice than what the grit is worth. Anyway, thank you for your advice, I will continue my search!

 

[Den in Penn]

Most soils will work for a while till they get picked over. At that time you can import fresh soil or add gravel or course sand to the run. If they dig for dust baths the time needed to deplete the soil of small stone can be a while.