What do y'all keep your oyster shell & grit in?

[kuntrychick]

I'm interested in all the different ways you all offer oyster shell & grit. Like what kind of containers (if any) & if it's just free-standing or attached. Is it close to the feeder or is it just somewhere out of the way that they can get to?

My chickens free-range & seem to have enough grit around, so I've never fed grit, but when I hatched out some chicks, I did get some chick grit when they were a couple weeks or so old. So, I did start throwing a little out there in the chicken pen here & there just in case they need it.

As far as oyster shell, I have one of those little plastic dishes that has the little lip thingy where it can hang on fencing & such. I keep it in there on the fence sort of out of the way. If the hens want it, they can get to it.

I recently had a little bit left in the bottom of a bag & put it in an empty, washed canned cat food can & put it out there as well (opposite side from the other dish)...close to the feeder, but they turned it over & spilled it.

 

[Chickmate]

I keep my oyster shell in a black plastic divided container that you can screw onto a wall or post. I got it at TSC and each side of the container is about 6' x 5' square. I had it screwed to the wall, but it was too hard to clean out so I just have it sitting on the ground in the run.

 

[stone_family3]

I just mix mine in with the feed because leaving it in a bowl next to the feeder were just not working for my girls.

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

For chicks in the brooder, I start "salting" their feed with chick grit at about age four or five days, and just make sure I stir some into their crumble as I move them to a larger feeder. From that point I just stir in a big pinch every day until they're large enough (5-6+ weeks, depending on the breed and their size) for a regular-size grit

For the growing/grown birds in the coop, I use rabbit feeders for both grit and oyster shell.

It needn't have the flip-up top cover on the Cadillac model shown. I mount mine between the open studs, so the lid would actually be a drawback/hindrance.

As I use them, the face of the upper magazine on the torugh side is screwed to a scrap of 1x4, with the top of the feeder above it and the trough projecting into the coop underneath. Then the 1x nailed to the face of the stud.

They come in different sizes, 2/3/5# are common at TSC and others. Pretty handy and plenty adequate for a small flock.

 

[rngrbill]

PETCO has these neet little cups that hook over the hardware cloth. They are designd for dog crates I think.

 

[kizanne]

I have a flower pot that sits in a flower pot holder. This keeps it from getting tipped over and raises it off the floor so it get alot less debris in it.

 

[TreeHugger]

In my chicken coop:
I use a hanging bird feeder. It's pretty....

In my pigeon coop:
I use a small gravity cat feeder.

 

[jengro65]

I keep mine in a quart mason jar with one of those screw on plastic gravity feeders. It's the same one I used to feed them as babies. It's sits near the big feeder and they help themselves as they need it.

 

[Clay Mudd]

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+1. I have those hanging inside the run, one each for oyster shell and grit.

 

[mommissan]

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