Grit and Oyster shells

[Alex S]

Mine have never touched grit. They literally won't eat it. Any suggestions for how to make them have it?

If they free range they may eat some pebbles on their own, or they have an awesome crop!

 

[KingD]

If they free range they may eat some pebbles on their own, or they have an awesome crop!

Not sure what makes an awesome crop but yeah they used to free range. They ate all sorts of things.....

 

[GC-Raptor]

at what age do you start supplementing the calcium?

I offer different size Grit and Shells at these ages.

GC

 

[humblehillsfarm]

at what age do you start supplementing the calcium? my bag of oyster shells say 20 weeks but my friend says to start now @ 14 weeks. her father in law has raised chickens for many years... she has already started supplementing her girls. I have Sapphire Gems - supposedly start laying @ 15-18 weeks. But they are molting and it's not even 20 degrees outside... so I wasn't expecting anything until spring. Do I need to supplement them now?

You don't start supplementing until they start laying. The bag says 20 weeks because that is the average age they start laying. When the first pullet lays its first egg, bring out the oyster shells. If you use layer feed, it usually offers enough calcium without providing oyster shells, but it's still good to provide it on the side. I always have a mix-aged flock so I feed them either grower feed or all-flock feed, whichever I can find, and provide free-choice calcium and egg shells year round.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Mine have never touched grit. They literally won't eat it. Any suggestions for how to make them have it?

Do they have access to the ground? If they have access to the ground, either with an enclosed run or free-range, they will eat pebbles on their own. They only need 2-3 pieces in their gizzard anyways. The pebbles stay in the gizzard for a long time. I took in 20 cornish cross that were raised to 1.5 weeks of age inside of a commercial plant (they were to be euthinized because they were "extra" birds and I have a friend on the "inside") Anyways, I let the cornish cross free range and processed them at nine weeks old. Every single one of them had small pebbles (mostly coal cause I live in coal country) in their gizzard. Those birds didn't even leave their feeder that much, so you'd be surprised at what the birds find on their own!

 

[Alex S]

Not sure what makes an awesome crop but yeah they used to free range. They ate all sorts of things.....

A crop is the part of the chicken that digests food and because the don't eat grit rather their medically ill or they have a really good digestion

 

[humblehillsfarm]

A crop is the part of the chicken that digests food and because the don't eat grit rather their medically ill or they have a really good digestion

The crop holds the food. It's like a chicken lunch box. After the crop, food moves to the chicken's version of a stomach (proventriculus) to get coated in digestive juices before moving to the gizzard. The gizzard digests the food. The gizzard is where the pebbles/grit end up. The gizzard is a very tough muscle which contracts, squeezing any pebbles, therefore grinding the food.

 

[RevlisRemmah]

I have little dishes full of them, one for grit and one for oyster shells. To be fair, they scatter it EVERYWHERE

When I give them crushed egg shells I usually just throw that into the run.

 

[Alex S]

The crop holds the food. It's like a chicken lunch box. After the crop, food moves to the chicken's version of a stomach (proventriculus) to get coated in digestive juices before moving to the gizzard. The gizzard digests the food. The gizzard is where the pebbles/grit end up. The gizzard is a very tough muscle which contracts, squeezing any pebbles, therefore grinding the food.

View attachment 2423827

Oh. Learn something new I guess

 

[RevlisRemmah]

The crop holds the food. It's like a chicken lunch box. After the crop, food moves to the chicken's version of a stomach (proventriculus) to get coated in digestive juices before moving to the gizzard. The gizzard digests the food. The gizzard is where the pebbles/grit end up. The gizzard is a very tough muscle which contracts, squeezing any pebbles, therefore grinding the food.

View attachment 2423827

Great visual and explanation!