[nessa egg]

HI,
Regarding grit for the chickens. Is it best to mix in with their feed?....Leave in a separate bowl?.....or scatter with corn? xxXXxx

[joyfull]

I give my grit an crushed egg shells (or oyster shell) separately to their feed, but make sure they are available at all times

[CattinJ]

Hi,
I tried it seperately but they just knocked the grit bowl over, so now I mix grit and also oyster shell in with the feed but the down side is that they tend to scatter their food trying to get at the pellets.

[hillfooter]

Separately as Joyful says.  Never mix it with food or mix corn with pellets.
HF

[beulah59]

Mine happily pick the pellets out and leave the grit ... but I like it in there just in case!

[hillfooter]

Mine happily pick the pellets out and leave the grit ... but I like it in there just in case!

The reason I suggest to separate grit from the food is that they actually require very little and putting it in the food might encourage over indulgence and an excess of calcium can cause serious problems if not be fatal.  Also don't scatter it in front of them as chx naturally dive in for anything which they think might be food it's a sort of competitive behaviour they must eat what ever one else is eating which is a flock survival instinct.  So throwing it down in front of them can be bad if not worse than mixing it with food.

I also don't mix corn with pellets for much the same reason as is observed by beulah they will often scrat or pick out the pellets and waste them to get at the corn and you end up with pellets fouling round their feeders encouraging vermin and unsanitory conditions.
HF

[nessa egg]

Mine happily pick the pellets out and leave the grit ... but I like it in there just in case!

thank you HF your advice is sound! x
The reason I suggest to separate grit from the food is that they actually require very little and putting it in the food might encourage over indulgence and an excess of calcium can cause serious problems if on be fatal.  Also don't scatter it in front of them as chx naturally dive in for anything which they think might be food it's a sort of competitive behaviour they must eat what ever one else is eating which is a flock survival instinct.  So thrwing it down in front of them can be bad if not worse than mixing it with food.

I also don't mix corn with pellets for much the same reason as is observed by beulah they will often scrat or pick out the pellets and waste them to get at the corn and you end up with pellets fouling round their feeders encouraging vermin and unsanitory conditions.
HF

[Flowerpower136]

Mine would knock dishes over too.

I've got a couple of plastic dishes that clip on to the weldmesh.  They're not the posh ones from Omlet.  Just a couple I picked up at the pet store.  Think they are for parrots or budgies.  Providing you put them fairly low down they don't get knocked off.

Oh, need to drill a couple of small holes in the bottom, so any rain water can drain through.

You can just see the small green one to the left of the picture.  The log underneath catches spillages, and stops them knocking it off the mesh.  Following the success of this, have now got a bigger one for grit.

Sunflower isn't for decor, that's my seat!

[hillfooter]

Mine would knock dishes over too.

I've got a couple of plastic dishes that clip on to the weldmesh.  They're not the posh ones from Omlet.  Just a couple I picked up at the pet store.  Think they are for parrots or budgies.  Providing you put them fairly low down they don't get knocked off.

Oh, need to drill a couple of small holes in the bottom, so any rain water can drain through.

You can just see the small green one to the left of the picture.  The log underneath catches spillages, and stops them knocking it off the mesh.  Following the success of this, have now got a bigger one for grit.

Sunflower isn't for decor, that's my seat!

Hi flowerpower,  so sad they won't let you eat in the house but your seat in the chicken's house is better than nothing I suppose.  Like the log idea to stop them dislodging their grit dispenser.  I've stopped using the one I had like this and now use a wooden one made along traditional lines which is crewed to the outside rear wall of their house so they can still use it without it not being in their faces so to speak.
HF

[Flowerpower136]

No chance of me eating in there, can you image the scrum! I wouldn't get a mouthful sitting at chicken level.
I love sitting down at their level, just one of the girls!

Interested to see piccy of traditional wooden grit dispenser. 

[TJ63]

While they're getting their first morning food, I just scatter a handful of mixed grit and oystershell in the opposite side of the run.

They can then pick around in it later and get what they want/need.


TJ

[Jeanette]

I use a small flower pot for the grit and my hubby has wired it to the side of the run and it is avalable all the time. I have done  the same  thing with the oyster shell.

[hillfooter]

No chance of me eating in there, can you image the scrum! I wouldn't get a mouthful sitting at chicken level.
I love sitting down at their level, just one of the girls!

Interested to see piccy of traditional wooden grit dispenser. 

Well as it happens I didn't have a photo of my gritbox, an oversight on my part ,so I had to go out and especially take one for you Flowerpower.  Hope this satisfies your gritbox fetish for now

One of my Barnevelders and a Buff Sussex demonstrate its use

HF