The Poultry Keeper

JaxMax · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 78 Location: Dublin

My girls are 10 and 11 weeks old and the guy I bought them from told me to carry on feeding them Chick Crumb for a good while, in fact he just said for me to buy a 20kg bag of it and when it was almost done start changing them over gradually to growers pellets, I only have 4 girls so I gather the crumb is going to last me another 4 to 6 weeks if not longer.

Anyway, I bought some grit and some oyster shell with the intention of giving them access to just the grit until they were older and then giving them the oyster shell as well, but I've noticed that the grit I bought is 'mixed' and it has oyster shell in it so I've stopped putting that in because I read somewhere that they shouldn't have any extra calcium until they are due to start laying as it could affect their bones whilst growing.

So, should I try to find some grit just by itself to give them or will they be fine with just the Chick Crumb until they get older? They've been eating mixed seeds as a treat every day, should I maybe get some budgie grit from the pet shop to do them until they are old enough to have the mixed grit?

Thanks
Jackie

Pyxel · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 73 Location: Carlisle, England.

I'm not sure about the grit question - I don't bother with it myself as I read they pick up little bits of grit from the ground if they are free range, but I'm sure someone will know. However, you usually only feed chick crumb from hatching until 6-8 weeks and then growers pellets from then until around 18 weeks or some feed it until the birds start laying.

JaxMax · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 78 Location: Dublin

Hi Pyxel, they're in a run on woodchip (which is on top of soil) so not really free range which is why I thought I should be adding some grit (but not the oyster shell just yet), they do scratch around so may be getting enough from underneath the woodchip though.

Yeah, I wondered about the chick crumb, the guy I bought them from 3 weeks ago told me to buy a 20kg bag of it and keep them on that until it was almost gone and then gradually swap them over to growers, but the crumb is lasting an awful long time, I reckon I have a good 4 weeks left in it! I've seen on here that some people keep theirs on crumb until it's time to change them over to layers so thought it must be ok. Smile

Jackie

vanessa · Joined: 24 Sep 2005 Posts: 1267 Location: Correze

Put some grit in a container - if they need it, they'll help themselves. I don't pretend to understand this - how they know what they need - but it does seem to work. Same goes for oyster shell ... only those that need it, when they need it, take any.

Clever things, chooks Wink

CP · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 12:54 pm Post subject:

Ours is in a hopper that they can access anytime & they do eat it because I have to replenish it from time to time. Wink

Elly · Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 335 Location: Norfolk

My chicks have had access to 'mixed' grit since day one. They need grit to aid digestion (no doubt some one will correct me if I'm wrong on this) and if they were free ranging would have access to all sorts. Nature is usually pretty good and animals seem to know what they do and dont need Confused

Keep smilin
Elly

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 2041 Location: norfolk

I tried giving my chicks grit from the beginning but gave it up because I never saw it eaten but the chicks loved to scratch it all over. Having brought up hundreds of chicks and never any problems with unthriftiness, I think that chick crumbs maybe contain everything that they need to begin with. By the time they go onto growers and are outside, is a good time to start with the grit.

CP · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:39 pm Post subject:

Sorry, just re-read this post - I should've said that the grit is available for the adult birds only.
We've found that chicks don't seem to eat grit either so they don't usually get any until they go onto growers pellets &/or are able to pick up what they need in the garden. Wink

mojo · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject:

odd how we do differant things ........i throw a handfull of mixed grit in the pen as soon as my chicks go outside............then when they go on growers a pan of grit is available ad lib .........some breeds seem to need it or want it more than others.........the marans eat more than the orps and the sussex dont seem to want to know but its always there.........i have one maran hen that loves it when the grit gets all wet she picks at it for ages