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Pages collated by
Jill Bowis of
started November 1999
FAQ's and Digest
A - You don't provide grit for its nutritional content, you provide grit so your birds can "chew" their food.
You provide crushed oyster shell for calcium for eggshell development. Crushed oyster shell is not grit.
Q - My question... I have my birds in a pen outside. They get to be truly "free range" 2-3 days a week. Should I provide them with additional grit? Seems like they'd get enough just pecking around
A - If they are getting out several days a week they should be OK. Grit does stay with the birds for some time. If the pen has an earth floor, then they are probably getting grit every day. My ducks would dabble around their pen and did not need additional grit.
Q - What is the typical size of grit? Can one simply use limestone gravel, seived to the appropriate size?
A -Most commercial grit comes in sizes 1-5. We start our poults on size 2 approx. the size of soybeans and at around 5-6 weeks they are switched to size 4 (size of a large kernel of corn ) They are kept on this until market
at 12-14 pounds. You can use what ever you want for grit, but granite/cherry stone will hold up the best in the gizzard. Limestone rock might degrade fairly fast
Q -I've been using egg-laying crumbles for my hens. A friend of mine used pellets. We both didn't have good reasons for using what we use (simply habit) and I was wonderign if there are compelling reasons for using one vs the other. Why do they offer both forms?
A -Hens like the crumbles better but waste about half of them. Pellets tend to actually be eaten.
And how about crumbles vs. pellets vs. mash? I've heard there's more waste with mash (which I use, but minimize waste by adjusting the feeder height). I use mash because I've heard that chickens fill up more quickly on pellets and crumbles so have more time to get into trouble (feather picking, etc.).
I am trying to find a list of ingredients to blend my own chicken feed. I
>currently have my chickens on free range and would like to get completely
>away from medicated feed and any others additives that might end up in
>commercially produced feed. Any help with this would be greatly
>appreciated.
My poultry book suggests a diet (for layers) of 2 ounces a day of whole
grain (preferably wheat) plus a third of an ounce of animal protein (meat
and bone meal or similar). Or you could give them a hopper of each and
let them sort out their own requirements. This assumes that *free range*
means just that and that they can find sufficient green material, grubs,
minerals, trace elements etc.
without supplementation. I have not tried this diet - I use layer pellets
from a small local compounder who claims that the ingredients are all natural
(whatever that means!) If you have heard of BSE you may be aware that meat
and bone meal is a bit of a delicate subject here in the UK at present
- I think a high quality vegetable protein such as coarsely ground soya
would be OK instead of animal protein, but you might need more of it. Hope
this is of some use.