Chicken grit is a calcium supplement that chickens need to support their digestive tract and overall health. Make sure you’re getting enough grit in your chickens’ diet!
You may hear “chicken supplement” and think “Oh, please! My chickens aren’t that fancy!”
That’s what I thought at first, too. But after doing some research, I quickly realized how critical supplementing chickens’ diets can be!
Today, we’re going to talk about one such supplement that can impact the health of your chicken – chicken grit.
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Chicken Grit – What It Is And Why It’s Important
Grit is an umbrella term for things like egg shells, small stones, little rocks, and ground-up oyster shells.
Grit is those little rocks that work with the gizzard of a chicken to grind the chicken’s food. As the gizzard contracts, the rocks tumble and grind the food the chicken has been eating.
Supplemented grit is also usually high in calcium, which leads to stronger eggshells in your chickens.
If a chicken lacks grit in their diet, they may not be able to properly digest their food. Since it isn’t being ground down, this usually looks like impaction.
Types of Poultry Grit
You may be thinking that grit is included in the commercial feed from your local farm supply store. And the answer is no. Chicken grit is sold separately and in some cases must be supplemented.
If you have a backyard flock that has little to no access to free range, you must supplement with grit.
There are so many types of poultry grit. Like we talked about before, “chicken grit” is an umbrella term.
Chicken grit can be:
- Eggshells
- Small stones or little rocks
- Ground-up oyster shells (commercially marketed as oyster shell grit or calcium carbonate)
- Granite grit
- Flint grit (flint or granit milled into small pieces)
Chicken grit is also broken down into two categories – soluble and insoluble.
Soluble grit is what will convert to calcium and strengthen bones and eggshells. We will talk a bit about why that’s important later.
Insoluble grit may hang out in the chickens’ gizzard.
When Should I Consider a Grit Supplement?
If your chickens live in an enclosed run with no ability to free range, you should consider a grit supplement.
If your eggshells are thin or break easily, and you aren’t already supplementing with grit, you should consider a grit supplement.
Finally, if you have laying hens, you should consider a grit supplement.
It’s important to note that high-quality feed won’t necessarily solve something like a calcium deficiency in chickens. It may solve other digestive issues or fulfill the individual needs of birds in a smaller flock, but it may not be a good source of calcium as a long-term solution.
A Brief Look at a Chicken’s Digestive System
You may be thinking – if a chicken is eating rocks to grind down their food, do they not produce stomach acid?
Such a great question! But the answer is yes – chickens do produce acid to aid in digestion!
Let’s take a walk through a chicken’s digestive system.
When a chicken eats food may sometimes be stored in their crop. The crop is a sack off to the side at the entrance of their digestive system to hold food before it moves to the stomach.
As the chicken digests its food, the food moves out of the crop and into the gizzard.
The gizzard is a golf-ball-sized organ that’s incredibly muscular. As it contracts, the gizzard works with the grit to grind the food down.
The chicken proventriculus, a narrow channel between the crop and gizzard in most poultry, is the “second stomach.” It produces digestive enzymes that also break down food. Working together with the gizzard, the food can move onto the intestines.
Remember how we talked about a lack of grit leading to impaction?
Impaction is a build-up of food and other foraged material that’s incapable of passing through a chicken’s digestive tract.
Impaction usually happens in the crop for a few different reasons.
Research shows the most common reason is diet. If a chicken is eating materials that simply aren’t digestible (inedible) or materials that don’t digest well, impaction can occur.
Another reason is a digestive system that simply isn’t performing properly. If the proventriculus isn’t producing the acid or enzymes to help with digestion or the gizzard doesn’t have grit to grind down food, the chickens’ digestive system isn’t performing properly.
You should note impaction can also happen in other parts of the chicken, such as the intestines. Impaction in the intestines may not be for the same reasons.
Why Is Proper Digestion Important?
If a chicken isn’t able to properly digest their food, they will become malnourished.
In adult poultry, obvious signs of malnourishment can include:
- Lethargy
- Muscle weakness
- Decrease in egg production
- Decrease in the quality of eggs produced
Other not-so-obvious signs include skeletal malformation and vitamin and mineral deficiency.
Grit is an important element in your chicken’s diet! Be sure to provide it for the flock’s bone strength, enhance the chickens’ digestive system function, strengthen egg shells, and provide a balanced diet.
Can Too Much Calcium Harm My Chickens?
Too much calcium can harm your chickens!
We talked briefly about soluble grit (easily absorbed by the chicken) and insoluble grit (grit that lingers in the digestive system and isn’t absorbed by the chicken).
If a chicken is consuming too much soluble grit, this can lead to increased acid and kidney damage. Thus, it’s important to balance and maintain adequate calcium in a chickens’ diet.
Too much calcium in a laying flock may look like this:
- Eggs with bumps
- Eggs with no shells
- Lack of interest in chicken feed
- Eggs with a congregation of bumps on one end.
I talk more about farm fresh eggs (and have pictures of over calcification) in this blog post.
I show everyday facts and figures about keeping chickens over on Instagram!
Exceptions to Chicken Grit
Chick crumble is soft enough that there’s usually no need to supplement with grit to aid in digestion.
So if you hatch chicks like I do, you may not need to supplement with chicken grit so long as you’re feeding chick crumble.
And frankly – a chick may not be able to eat standard grit! It may need to be very finely ground.
Usually, your chick crumble will have a conversion chart that lets you know when you need to convert to feed pellets. It may say “This feed at so many weeks of age” on the back of your feed bag.
If you’re raising chickens in a chicken run with no access to grass and rocks, this would be a great time to introduce supplemental grit.
We usually give grit as a supplement at feeding time. But you can easily offer it in a separate feeder.
Our chicken grit comes in a 5 lb bag from our farm supply store.
For more information on how to raise chicks, check out this blog post!
More About A Chicken’s Diet
Understanding the nuances of an animal’s diet is well worth the effort.
After all, we selfishly want the best by product!
But it’s important to remember we want to provide the best life for any animal in our care. Let’s be good stewards!
Grit may not be controversial to a chicken’s diet, but diatomaceous earth and pumpkins are! Luckily, I’ve broken down a lot of information on the blog!
I also talk about fermented feed, kitchen scraps, and compost in Know Your Options for Chicken Feed.
If you’re looking for feed alternatives because store-bought feed is expensive, that’s the blog post you want to read!
If you’re new to raising chickens and looking for product recommendations, check out my Resources Page! I have all of the links you need to feeders, supplements, and gear that has helped us hatch and raise our chickens.
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