When Can They Have "Chicken" Grit?

[Jiff]

My three babies are a little over 10 weeks old and I haven't been giving them any solid snacks up to this point because I couldn't find chick grit. I just checked the back of my box of chicken grit, and it says that it can be given to chickens 10 weeks or older. The only thing that I am worried about is that the maximum calcium that could be in it would be 13.2%, and I don't want to give them too much calcium. The grit is all ground granite. Should this be ok for them or should I just order some chick grit offline? Thanks!

 

[foxinachickenhouse]

It should be ok. The granite grit is not calcium based. Oyster shell will help you with that when they're laying. We gave ours chick grit (smaller size) until about 3 mos and then regular chicken grit. They'll take what they want.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
That just does not sound right since granite is not calcium based like Fox said. I don't buy grit and maybe the box does say that, but it seems like granite grit should not have that much calcium. It is not just the percent of calcium, but how much they eat factors in too. A tiny bite of a high percent calcium is not really much calcium. And the older they get the less the extra calcium hurts them. I'll certainly defer to people that actually have exerience with that.

At ten weeks old, they can handle some pretty large chunks of gravel as grit, almost the size of a pea. Coarse sand, like construction sand, will also work well. When I need grit for my brooder, I go to my gravel road or gravel driveway and collect sand and small pebbles. If your's is salted for ice in the winter I would not do that since they cannot handle the extra salt. Play sand is not the best either since it is too fine and smooth. If you allow yours time on the ground, they are probably finding grit on their own.

Good luck!