Wondering about oyster shells

[haasle]

Hello all - I am currently using sand in my chicken coop (on the poop tray and in the run) I'm seeing all kinds of stuff about having to feed them grit and oyster shells. Do I have to give them those things if they have sand in their coop? Sand gets in their waterer all the time, so I know they are ingesting it. This is my first time with chickens and they are 17 weeks old. Thanks, I need all the advice I can get!

 

[mockingbird]

I'm thinking they may need a courser grit than sand - someone correct me if I'm wrong. The oyster shell is a calcium supplement not a grit.
I personally choose to provide both even though mine have access to the great outdoors. They do utilize what is offered.

 

[CharB]

I agree with @mockingbird. The grit you buy is larger than sand. The grit is used in their gizzard to grind up the food since they don't have teeth. The grinding also wears away at the grit which eventually becomes sand like particles in the poop! The oyster shell is for calcium which is needed for the egg shell. The feed usually won't give them all the calcium they need once they go into egg production. In turn, their bodies will start breaking down their bones to get the calcium. If they free-range they may eat small rocks but I always keep grit and oyster shell in separate containers in the run for them to use at their discretion.

Your hens are 17 weeks! Your fun is about to begin. Best of luck, my friend.

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed with above. The fact that sand is getting into your waterer may not mean that they are eating it at all. They kick up their bedding, and even a raised waterer can have quite a bit of debris in it by the end of the day.

 

[Jessicx]

I used to use sand in the coop, partly because I hoped they would ingest it. But everyone's right, sand doesn't have course or large enough grit for chickens. My girls absolutely refuse to eat oyster shell, so I found a feed made by Purina that has oyster shell in it. Their shells have never been healthier! Also, you can buy oyster shell and grit all-in-one.

 

[BethLouMcCormick]

Sand is to fine compared to grit, plus oyster shell has calcium in it, I use oyster shell grit, its oyster shell & grit in one. I would 1000% recommend it there eggs are much more robust and healthier, there beaks benefit from it as well, plus its good for there digestion.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Grit for grinding stuff in their gizzard and oyster shell for a calcium supplement are two totally different things. I'm not sure where you are, there is a bit of a language barrier here. In the UK and possibly other places they call oyster shell soluble grit and the stuff used to grind up stuff insoluble grit. In the States, grit is the stuff they use to grind up stuff while oyster shell is never called any kind of grit. This sometimes causes confusion on this forum.

Since chickens don't have teeth but eat things that need to be ground up they eat small rocks that act as teeth in the gizzard. They can use various rocks for that. The grit you buy is usually made from granite, it's a by-product from a granite quarry. Granite is very hard and the larger pieces can last a month. They can use whatever rock is in your soil but depending on what your native rock is it might be softer and get ground up pretty fast. Normally if your chickens have access to the ground they find their own grit, but there are some soils that just don't have rocks.

Laying hens need a fair amount of calcium for their egg shells. If all they eat is Layer with about a 4% calcium content they will get enough calcium from that. But it's not what is in one bite, it's the total amount of calcium they average eating in a day. If they are eating other things that are low calcium they may need a calcium supplement. A standard inexpensive easy way to supplement the calcium is to offer oyster shell on the side. That way the hens that need the extra calcium can eat it and the chickens that are not laying (young chicks, roosters, or hens not laying) don't eat enough to harm themselves.

There are other possible sources of calcium. They can get some calcium from certain plants, some creepy crawlies if they can catch them, or even some rocks if your native rock is limestone. The way to tell if they are getting enough calcium is to look at your egg shells. If they are hard and thick your hens are getting enough calcium from somewhere. If they are thin or soft they probably need a calcium supplement.

Oyster shell will not work to grind food in their gizzard. Part of that is that it crushes to a powder too easily but a big part is that it dissolves in the digestive juices so it can be absorbed by their bodies. Their digestive juices are acidic and that dissolves the oyster shell pretty darn quickly.

I don't know if you need to add insoluble grit to grind their food or not. If they spend some time on the ground and your soil has rocks in it, probably not. You'll sometimes see them pecking at the ground. One of the things they are looking for is rocks to use as grit in their gizzard. Mine seem to do that a lot when they are taking dust baths.

I consider it good practice to offer oyster shell on the side, whether they need it or not. It generally doesn't cost much and never goes bad. If they are getting enough calcium from other sources that oyster shell may last a long time. If they need it then it will disappear faster.

 

[FlyWheel]

Grit on the ground so they can grind up their food. Raise their waterer a few inches above the ground to keep it cleaner.

 

[BYChickenAl]

I add a small amount of grit to the layer feed and I leave oyster shell in a separate feeder that they peck at when they want. I've seen them ingest small rocks from the drive...but wild birds do the same thing. Ingesting sand...not the same thing and not the same benefit as oyster shell and grit in my opinion. Think about it this way...what did farmers provide their chickens 100 years ago? In the midwest, where did a farmer buy oyster shell and was he/she concerned with providing grit?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Like one person reported here, you can always feed your hens your diamond jewelry, things like bracelets, rings, and earrings. Chickens eagerly eat shiny things, and diamonds (being the hardest substance on Earth) do an excellent job of grinding up your hens' groceries. Just be prepared to kiss the gold settings goodby, the gizzard will quickly reduced the gold settings to individual gold atoms.