When to give grit to my 8 plus week old chickens

[Ronw91340]

I am new to raising chickens and just curious when to give it to them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

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.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

I am new to raising chickens and just curious when to give it to them.

How old are they? They need grit to digest certain foods, so if you start feeding them treats like corn or blueberries or whatever, or if they are on grass where they can potentially eat something other than chicken starter feed, then they will need grit. Also, when they are older, they will eat either layer feed or all flock. If you choose all flock, you will need oyster shell flakes or a similar calcium source so the hens can make good eggs.

 

[NatJ]

How old are they?

Based on the title of the thread, I figured the chicks were a bit over 8 weeks old

 

[FrostRanger]

I give mine grit from day 1, just in case they eat something weird while I'm not looking

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Based on the title of the thread, I figured the chicks were a bit over 8 weeks old

Yeah…….. I read like half the title and thought to myself
“I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED”

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yeah…….. I read like half the title and thought to myself
“I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED”

Lol, I do that too.

 

[rosemarythyme]

1 week old or 8 weeks old, the answer is still "now."

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Da soona, da betta.

 

[SourRoses]

I used to go by the idea that they needed it as soon as they ate anything other than their starter.
But I've since read a study that showed a feed conversion benefit to raising chicks with grit always available.
Feed conversion is how much food is required for a chicken to gain x amount of weight.
It indicates a healthier digestive system that is processing the feed better. Possibly the grit is exercising gizzard muscle and/or providing increased surface area on the grit for beneficial bacteria to live (increased housing density) much like the porous stones in fish tank filter media.

So like BlueHen, I now give it after the first couple days, long enough for the babies to see their food as the main course and the grit as the dressing.