Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: billathome65 on March 31, 2011, 21:17
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Ok as my chucks are here the guy was saying that they sell chicken grit with is essential for chickens my question is how do you use this is it put in a grit tray so they can peck at it or do you mix with the food????
Can't seem to find the answer to this question although I see it mentioned a lot.
Cheers Bill
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Not necessary to mix it with the food Bill, just put it in a little tray so they can take what they want if they need it.
Commercial chicken food should have everything in it that the birds need, but sometimes, especially if they are not out on the garden much, they need a little extra grit. all it does is help to grind up the food in their crops for easy digestion.
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Thanks for that so I don't need to buy a big sack of it then :) :) :)
Bill
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I find I need to replace it fairly regularly because the hens kick loads of mud and wood bark chippings into it and the rain ruins it too.
You can get special feeders for it although mine is just in an ice cream box.
I got through a small bag quite quickly and the next time I went there was only a huge bag there so I bought that and I don't think I will finish it for about 5 years!
Bev
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I have just bought some large grit bocks to hang up so they get a boredom buster and the grit they need.
I got the Chucks from Happy Chicks from a link here and I will use them for most of my buys except the food only because I use Dodson and Horrell for my ferret and dog food the chicken feed is only about a pound cheaper although the guy who bought the chucks was surprised as he said it is a good brand which normally costs a lot more, and I get combined postage which also works out cheaper.
Happy Chicks well recommended.
Bill
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Just a clarification on the grit issue: there are two very different things that are both sometimes referred to as grit.
1) Hard grit - this is little stones that the chickens pick up and swallow. They then store them in their crop and use them to grind hard food like grains. Chickens of all ages need this and will select the right size - little chicks use sand-size grains, bigger chickens will choose bigger bits. If they are allowed out on soil they will pick up their own, but you can also sprinkle some little stones inside their run or put them in a flowerpot or similar.
2) Shell grit - (usually crushed oyster shells) this has a completely different purpose. Shells are made of calcium carbonate and the chicken will use them as a source of calcium, which they need for strong egg shells. Hens that are laying will need much more calcium than pullets who aren't yet laying. Again you can put crushed shells in a flower-pot and the chickens will take what they need.
Compressed layer pellets usually contain enough calcium but it can't hurt to have shell grit available too. They will only take what they need.
Some people use washed and baked eggshells instead of oyster shells.
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Thanks for that information will get some of the other grit too.
Cheers Bill