When to give grit to my 8 plus week old chickens

[K0k0shka]

As soon as they start eating anything other than their chick feed. If they are being raised by a hen, it's safer to give them access to grit from day 1 because she'll teach them what's food and what isn't and how to eat properly. If you are raising them in a brooder though, they have no guidance and will try to eat anything. To them, a grain of grit will be just as "food" as a grain of feed, so they can eat too much and get themselves clogged (or even die). So for brooder-raised chicks it's better to wait a week or so, until they have learned what food is and are reliably eating their crumble (as opposed to bedding etc.), so they won't gorge on the grit when they first see it.

 

[Ronw91340]

Now. I start providing it as early as Day three, and they help themselves. A few days later I introduce dried mealworms, snd later, other scraps, just to get them used to different tastes and textures. Others wait till they are a week old or so. They should have it before they get anything other than their starter food. At eight weeks they're probably outside foraging, aren't they? So they should definitely be getting grit to help them digest bugs, grass, etc. However, if they are outside, they may be getting natural grit from the ground. It still wouldn't hurt to provide some, just to be sure.

Thank you so much I appreciate the insight

 

[LaFleche]

If you are unable to get chick size granite grit you can provide rough sand which works really well for chicks.

And welcome to the BYC community!

 

[Ridgerunner]

If they are in a brooder where they cannot get to the ground I start around Day 2 or 3. If they can peck at the ground they will find their own so I don't bother.