When to give grit

[kstande]

I just started giving my chicks a very few pieces of food crap. They are just shy of 8 wks old. I read you should also supply chicken grit to help with digestion. Do I sprinkle it on the ground or add it too the food.

 

[SueT]

I sprinkle it on the ground. Some people offer it in a separate container free choice. I wouldn't try to force them to eat it by mixing it in the food. They'll take what they need, when they need it.

 

[Wezdin]

x2. I've tried not supplying it before and they just get it out of the ground.

 

[renenchan]

I just started giving my chicks a very few pieces of food crap. They are just shy of 8 wks old. I read you should also supply chicken grit to help with digestion. Do I sprinkle it on the ground or add it too the food.

I am in the same boat! researching today when to switch from chick feed to new food "grower?"

 

[danceswithronin]

I usually start giving chick grit at two weeks old, when I start introducing foods other than chick starter or scrambled eggs/mashed boiled egg yolk.

 

[JBG acres]

I usually start giving grit free choice around 3 or 4 weeks old and I keep mine on chick starter/grower until they start to lay then I switch them to layer feed which for most of my girls has been around 18 or 20 weeks give or take.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I mix Chick Grit into Chick Starter from 2 weeks to 10 weeks at a ratio of 1 lb of Grit to 40 lbs of feed, (10 ounces to 25 lbs feed).
At 7 weeks I offer Poultry Grit in a separate container. . GC

 

[Folly's place]

I offer chick sized grit when they move to my 'chick raising' coop sections, where they will find other things to eat besides their all flock feed. Really, any time is fine; broody raised chicks are out on the ground at a few days of age, eating small stones and whatever they find out there.
I never mix it with feed, but offer it separately on the ground.
Mary

 

[Acre4Me]

I wouldn't try to force them to eat it by mixing it in the food. They'll take what they need, when they need it.

Very true. They will take what they need when they need it.

This past winter, I was concerned that they were not venturing out and around - maybe not getting grit they needed, so when I gave them some wet feed and scrambled egg as a treat, I sprinkled some grit on the food. It wasn't very much, but it was on top of the feed, around it, and in the nooks and crannies. I came back later to pick up the containers, and every molecule of the treat was gone - as close to "licked clean" as a chicken can get, but there was all the bits of grit remaining. Made me laugh and I no longer worried they weren't getting enough grit!

 

[Blooie]

Mine get their own at about 4 days or so. I get a big clump of sod from the yard - grass, weeds, tiny rocks, sand, roots, bugs and all - and put it grass side down in the brooder. At first they’re terrified of this huge alien in their space but soon one pops out from under Mama Heating Pad to investigate. Before too long they’re all over there, pecking, scratching, playing King of the Mountain on top, and getting bits of natural chick-sized grit and exposure to the pathogens and fungi that will be present in the soil when they go out. As it breaks down they love to dust bathe in it.

I raise my chicks outdoors from the start, and try to do it as closely to a Mother Broody as possible, from their heat source to their natural day/night cycles and diet. Yes, even out there they get their clump of sod, if the ground has any thawed patches. If you think about it, 4 days is about the time she’d have them out of the nest and in their full time environment. They'd be eating everything from chicken poop (yes, they do that and it helps build immunities) to bugs, seeds, grass, weeds, and whatever else Mom calls them to try. They drink out of mud puddles and standing water from rain or garden hoses. I try to duplicate all of that. At 2 weeks they are mingling with the flock, at 3 they are spending every entire day with them, and they are totally integrated by 4 weeks, at which time their brooder is totally removed.