Chicken Grit: Everything You Need to Know
When you and I eat food, we thoroughly chew it before swallowing. Then, when the chewed food reaches our stomachs, the digestive fluids finish the job, fully breaking down the food and allowing our bodies to absorb all its valuable nutrients.
But what about animals without teeth, like chickens? How do they chew their food?
They don’t. Chickens don’t chew their food like humans. Instead, they rely on something called a gizzard to chew it for them. And to do that properly, the gizzard needs to be full of chicken grit.
Keep reading if you are considering raising backyard chickens. Below, I will talk about chicken grit (and gizzards) and why it's so critical for your chicken’s healthy digestion.
What is chicken grit?
The best ways to feed grit to your chickens
Advice for buying chicken grit
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What Happens if You Don't Give Chickens Grit?
Grit is an essential component of your chicken’s healthy digestion. Without chicken grit, your chickens are not able to digest their food properly. The reason is because chickens do not have teeth to chew their food. So, to mash up their food into digestible bits, like we do when we chew our food, chickens require extra help to compensate for their lack of teeth.
When chickens do not have grit to help them digest their food, they can experience digestive blockages in the crop. The crop is a pocket located in a chicken esophagus above the stomach and gizzard. If the crop becomes too impacted with undigested food, it can cause discomfort and, worse, cause the chicken to suffocate.
If a chicken does not have enough grit, it may still be possible to pass food through the digestive tract. However, without grit to properly chew food, the chicken may struggle to adequately covert the feed and absorb all its valuable vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.
And that’s where chicken grit comes into play.
What is Chicken Grit?
Chicken grit is an additive substance chickens consume to help them digest their food. For example, when a chicken feasts on solid foods like insects for food scraps, they need grit to breakdown the food for them because they are unable to on their own. Here’s how it works.
When a chicken eats grit, the grit becomes stored in the chicken’s gizzard. The gizzard is the chicken's stomach, and it's mechanical. This means that the gizzard mechanically grinds and mixes the chicken’s food. Chicken grit helps aid this process. Essentially, the grit, while it’s inside the gizzard, acts like teeth, mashing the solid food into digestible bits. That’s why the gizzard also known as hen’s teeth.
While inside the gizzard, also known as the ventriculus, food is also exposed to chemical action to help digest it. Specifically, the release of digestive enzymes and fluids also assists in breaking down foods. After the chemicals, gizzard, and grit have adequately ground the chicken’s food, the food can continue through the digestive system. After being released from the food throughout this digestive process, minerals, and nutrients can be distributed and absorbed into the chicken’s body.
Chickens that are fed a diet of commercial feed do not require chicken grit. On the other hand, chickens that are fed a whole grain diet or chickens that are kept on a pasture may not consume enough grit by themselves. In that case, these chickens may require a supplementation of grit.
What Counts as Grit for Chickens?
Generally speaking, grit is pebbles, rocks, gravel, or grit that a chicken can pick up off the ground while they are foraging. The grit that chickens ingest on their own while they forage is called natural grit. Chickens know how to self-monitor and ingest enough grit to assist their gizzards with food digestion. However, sometimes it is necessary to supplement grit into your chicken’s diet beyond what they can forage for naturally.
Chick Grit vs. Chicken Grit
There are many different types of grit. Therefore, you want to make sure you are feeding your chickens the correct grit. One thing to consider when selecting your grit is the size of the grit.
Grit designed for chicks, or chick grit, is much smaller and easier for baby chicks to ingest. Chick grit is also referred to as starter grit. On the other hand, chicken grit is larger and designed for larger, mature chickens.
Mineral Grit or Calcium Grit
Mineral grit is designed to contain additional minerals that both aid in the chicken's digestion and supplement the chicken's diet. In many cases, mineral grit contains calcium carbonate, which is why it’s often referred to as calcium grit.
Another common mineral grit is made from oyster shells. Oyster shell grit is effective because it contains a lot of calcium and breaks down slower than calcium carbonate grit, aiding in the chicken’s digestion.
Mineral grit, or calcium grit, is super popular for healthy laying hens because it helps them produce strong eggshells. However, it's important to mention that supplemental calcium grit may not be suitable for other types of birds.
For example, it's unnecessary to feed young birds calcium grit. That’s because excess calcium can interfere with the bird's development. Similarly, roosters do not require a diet of calcium grit because they don’t lay eggs and therefore, don’t need the boost for egg production. In addition, old hens or poorly laying hens do not require calcium grit. Instead, what roosters and old hens require is called inert grit.
Inert Grit
Inert grit is a harder form of grit, like insoluble crushed granite or river sand grit. In some cases, inert grit is referred to as flint grit. Inert or flint grit is tiny rocks and pebbles that are devoid of any supplemental nutrients or minerals. Therefore, the main function of inert grit is to assist the gizzard in properly digesting solid foods.
It’s recommended that you refrain from feeding inert grit to chicks. That’s because inert grit is often too large for chicks. In addition, chicks have a habit of ingesting anything that could negatively affect their ingestion of chick or starter grit, which is what they should be eating in the first place.
Should Grit Be Mixed With Chicken Feed?
If you raise free-range chickens who are able to explore and forage for food, then you do not need to incorporate grit into your chicken’s feed. That’s because birds that are allowed to range will forage all the natural, inert grit they require.
However, if you have chickens that are confined to just a coop and small run, then it may be necessary to provide grit. One of the simplest ways to provide chicken grit to your birds is to mix it into their feed.
To mix grit into chicken feed, simply dose their food with a small amount of grit. In most cases, you do not need that much grit. For example, in a standard fifteen-pound chicken feeder, you can mix in a few cups of chicken grit.
Then, besides the feed and grit, just make sure your birds have all the essential vitamins and minerals they need to grow and produce.
How to Feed Chicken Grit Separately
You can also feed grit to your chickens with feeders separately. You can have a feeder for mineral grit and a second for inert grit. However, some homesteaders and farmers will mix the two types of grit together. It all depends on the characteristics of your coop.
If possible, position the grit container off the ground. This will help keep the grit dry and prevent contamination from chicken droppings.
Then, routinely monitor the grit feeder and top it off whenever necessary to ensure that your birds have adequate access to grit whenever they might need it.
When to Feed Chicken Grit
In most cases, you can feed grit to your chickens all year long. It’s good to have grit readily available at all times. For the most part, chickens are intelligent enough to know when they need more grit to aid in their digestion of solid foods.
However, you might refrain from, or adjust the availability of grit for specific birds and during certain stages of development, like I mentioned above.
For those of you who live in geographic regions with freezing wintertime temperatures and snowfalls, raising chickens can be challenging. It may be best to raise a cold hardy chicken breed.
In terms of grit, it’s especially important to provide grit to your chickens when there is snow on the ground. That’s because the snow may be covering up their source of natural grit on the ground. And, of course, keep your chickens warm!
Where to Buy Chicken Grit
Chicken grit is a highly accessible product. You should have no problem finding chicken grit for purchase in your local farm supply store. There are also plenty of online retailers where you can purchase chicken grit and have it shipped directly to your home.
When considering what chicken grit to purchase for your beloved bird, remember to consider the following.
The age of your chickens: Super young chicks (under 20 weeks of age) may not require grit at all in the brooder. In addition, pullets will require a different grit than full-grown chickens. Lastly, some birds may need calcium grit while others need inert grit.
Type source material: Inert grits can be comprised of various different source materials. A common material for inert grit is granite or quartzite. There are alternatives to quartzite and granite grit, too, such as calcium grits, which can be made with shells.
Additional supplements: It’s common for chicken grit manufacturers to add supplements to their grit products. For example, grit products with probiotics are super common.
Follow the manufacturer's guidelines: Every grit product will come with a feeding guide based on specific manufacturer recommendations. Follow these recommendations for the best results.
Store your grit properly: Many grit products are sold in large quantities, for example, 50-pound bags. This is too much to use at one time; therefore, you’ll need to store your grit.
What About Turkeys– Do They Need Grit?
Absolutely! Turkeys have a digestive system similar to that of chickens. They also rely on a gizzard to mechanically chew their food. Therefore, turkeys also consume poultry grit to help the gizzard break down their feed effectively. If you are considering raising turkeys, then you can deploy many of the same tactics regarding the grit you provide your birds.
Eating Chicken Gizzards
Believe it or not, the gizzards that are responsible for breaking down a chicken's food are edible. Gizzards are well known for being nutrient-dense and packed with protein and different vitamins and minerals.
There’s a variety of ways to consume gizzards. Oftentimes, gizzards are included when making delicious chicken stocks. However, you can also prepare chicken gizzards and consume them directly in dishes like chili, pasta sauce, tacos, and enchiladas.
Final Thoughts
Chicken grit is an essential component in the digestive systems of chickens. That’s because grit functions like teeth, helping chickens break down and digest solid foods as they pass through their gizzards. Without grit, chickens can experience health complications like an impacted crop, and struggle to adequately convert their feed.
Chickens that are allowed to free range do not need to be fed additional grit. That’s because they get the natural grit they need from the ground. On the other hand, confined chickens require grit mixed into their daily feed, or served to them separately in a free choice separate feeder.
Fortunately, chicken grit is widely accessible and economical to purchase. Therefore, it’s relatively easy to incorporate chicken grit into the diets of your flock to ensure that they have healthy, functioning digestive systems.
Want to learn more about raising chickens? Be sure to check out these articles!
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