Importance of Grit & Oyster Shell

Chickens don’t have teeth to help them chew their food; instead, everything they eat is stored in their crop and then their gizzard, where it is held until it can be ground up and partially digested before moving to the chicken’s stomach. Chickens that are allowed to free-range will continually pick up small stones and coarse dirt, which will help grind up the food in the gizzard

Chicks have special needs for grit because they are not laying eggs yet. Granite grit is a perfect option to choose as there is no calcium for them to absorb from it. Chicks up to 10 weeks of age need a very fine ground grit simply due to their small size.

Crushed oyster shell provides your flock with calcium. Chickens need even more calcium than that which is included in even top-quality chicken layer feed because they use so much calcium to form the shells on their eggs day after day. If a hen doesn’t get enough calcium, she will start to leach calcium from her bones in order to create eggshells. This can lead to weak, deformed or broken bones. Not providing your chickens with enough calcium can also lead to soft-shelled eggs, which are exactly what they sound like: eggs with a soft shell or no shell.