Talk to me about grit

[Ridgerunner]

I contacted Kalmbach feeds. If the label says a feed contains grit, it is granite, used to grind stuff in the gizzard that needs to be ground.

 

[Vicker]

Over 20 years, I never gave grit to adults because there is a plethora of little pebbles and rocks where they roam. But after having some sour crop incidents close together, I looked into it more. I read that some rocks may not be as hard as the crushed granite sold as poultry grit. I had a bag that I bought for some other reason, so put a little dish beside their feed. I guess better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Ridgerunner]

But after having some sour crop incidents close together, I looked into it more.

Grit is used in the gizzard to grind stuff up. Food goes into the crop before it gets to the gizzard so it cannot help with sour crop. Grit can help keep a gizzard from becoming impacted which could back stuff up but grit is not my first choice for crop issues.

I read that some rocks may not be as hard as the crushed granite sold as poultry grit.

Very few rocks are as hard as granite. That does not mean the others won't work as grit, it means they wear out faster than granite would. Many chickens worldwide live where granite is not a base rock. They use what is available. Nothing wrong with what you did, it did no harm. And you know rocks are available for grit.

Since granite is such a great rock to use for grit, they screen the debris from a granite quarry to get rocks the right size. That's part of why grit is so cheap, most of the heavy work is already done so all they have to do is screen and package it.

 

[Raubkatze]

Over 20 years, I never gave grit to adults because there is a plethora of little pebbles and rocks where they roam. But after having some sour crop incidents close together, I looked into it more. I read that some rocks may not be as hard as the crushed granite sold as poultry grit. I had a bag that I bought for some other reason, so put a little dish beside their feed. I guess better to be safe than sorry.

I had my first flock of birds 10+ years ago. They were all adult hens given to me by my neighbor. I did a lot of flying by the seat of my pants with them, and they all survived, somehow. This time around after raising them from babies it seems much more anxiety inducing.

 

[mopalia]

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Which feed is this? I think Kalmback makes a few varieties.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Which feed is this? I think Kalmback makes a few varieties.

It was the hen house reserve. I only looked at that and the chick house reserve. Not sure about the scratch either.

 

[paddock36]

Every store within a 30 mile radius of me seems to be sold out of chick grit right now. I am assuming this is a side effect of everybody also rushing to get chicks. My chicks are 8.5 weeks old and now living outside. They are mostly still eating their chick food, but I have noticed them starting to nibble on grass, and there was one hilarious moment in which one of them found a worm, zoomies ensued, and worm bits went flying everywhere. I also purchased some meal worms because a few of them have gone a bit feral since moving outside and are a bit of a hassle to corral to put to bed at night. I was hoping I could start training/bribing them to get them to go to bed.

Under all of these circumstances, do they need grit? Do they not need grit? Should I start driving to some of these feed stores that are 30-45 mins away to get grit?

I have never ever purchased grit in my life for chicks or chickens and i have never had an issue. If they are able to forage in your yard, they will find what they need/want as they scavage and scratch around.