Do you rely on the chickens picking up natural grit from your yard or do you provide store bought grit? When there are this many crop issues plaguing a flock, we must take a look at environmental factors.
If the local soil is providing all the grit your chickens eat, could you do an experiment? You will need a kitchen strainer and a magnifying lens, buy one if you have to. Take a few soil samples from where your chickens usually hang out. Look at the particles. Size - are they from one-sixteenth inch to one-eight inch diameter? Shape - do they have round edges or sharp edges? To be useful as grit, they must be that size and have sharp edges.
You do have a very strange soil in your state. It may be it's what's responsible for all these crop issues. Buying grit may be your solution. If you buy grit, get both the adult and the chick size so the chickens have a wide size range to select from and make it available free choice in several locations where they like to congregate.
If the local soil is providing all the grit your chickens eat, could you do an experiment? You will need a kitchen strainer and a magnifying lens, buy one if you have to. Take a few soil samples from where your chickens usually hang out. Look at the particles. Size - are they from one-sixteenth inch to one-eight inch diameter? Shape - do they have round edges or sharp edges? To be useful as grit, they must be that size and have sharp edges.
You do have a very strange soil in your state. It may be it's what's responsible for all these crop issues. Buying grit may be your solution. If you buy grit, get both the adult and the chick size so the chickens have a wide size range to select from and make it available free choice in several locations where they like to congregate.