just a queary about shell grit

stormgirl · **Joined:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:59 pm **Posts:** 23

hey all, my girls are 18 weeks old isa browns and are on Layer pellets full time now, was slowly reducing grower & increasing layer by mixing the two....my queary is this - do i put the shell grit down for them now or do i wait till they start laying???

any help is greatly appreciated

Hens and Hobbits · **Posted:** Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:41 am

We have ways had a separate bowl of shell grit for our birds, both poultry and caged to access, regardless of their age, as it aids with their digestion.

OakA · **Posted:** Fri Aug 19, 2011 8:02 am

Hens and Hobbits is correct, it should be available at all times.
They will need to build calcium reserves for shell production before they start to lay.
The provision of additional shellgrit does aid with digestion, likewise a supply of course grit, but a supply is also available in layer pellets, it is for this reason laying pellets should not be given to any ruminant animal.
I provide shell grit not in a seperate bowl but as a nest material for layers.
It is then available if they need/want it but also the eggs are always clean, it is a practice I picked up as a youngster from colony housed layer farms in the area I grew up in.

stormgirl · **Joined:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:59 pm **Posts:** 23

great i will put it down for them now, i had read in some places on the net that too much calcium to early was not good for them, so that was why i was not sure of the age for them to have it....

thanks very much [smilie=a_cookiemonster.gif]

Hens and Hobbits · **Posted:** Fri Aug 19, 2011 8:09 am

Oaklands wrote:

Hens and Hobbits is correct, it should be available at all times.
They will need to build calcium reserves for shell production before they start to lay.
The provision of additional shellgrit does aid with digestion, likewise a supply of course grit, but a supply is also available in layer pellets, it is for this reason laying pellets should not be given to any ruminant animal.
I provide shell grit not in a seperate bowl but as a nest material for layers.
It is then available if they need/want it but also the eggs are always clean, it is a practice I picked up as a youngster from colony housed layer farms in the area I grew up in.

Thanks, Oaklands for that tip,

Does one just scatter the shell grit over the nesting material or mix it through?

Also, we crushed cuttle fish for the chooks too, is that ok?

Your chook wisdom is greatly appreciated.

[smilie=thanks.gif]

OakA · **Posted:** Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:52 am

The cuttlefish should be OK, used for cage birds for calcium and wearing down beak growth.
I use the shellgrit alone as the nest material,I use nothing else in the sheds for collecting eggs for house or setting.
For a sitting hen I use other materials like straw, pine needles and such so they can mound a soft warm nest to incubate.

stormgirl · **Joined:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:59 pm **Posts:** 23

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

Oaklands wrote:

Hens and Hobbits is correct, it should be available at all times.
They will need to build calcium reserves for shell production before they start to lay.
The provision of additional shellgrit does aid with digestion, likewise a supply of course grit, but a supply is also available in layer pellets, it is for this reason laying pellets should not be given to any ruminant animal.
I provide shell grit not in a seperate bowl but as a nest material for layers.
It is then available if they need/want it but also the eggs are always clean, it is a practice I picked up as a youngster from colony housed layer farms in the area I grew up in.

Thanks, Oaklands for that tip,

Does one just scatter the shell grit over the nesting material or mix it through?

[smilie=thanks.gif]

when i had chooks before, i put the shellgrit in their nesting boxes, the hens then proceded to fill the nesting boxes with straw from the coop floor.......

andre · **Joined:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:21 pm **Posts:** 612

Actually the laying pellets will already have exactly the right amount of calcium in them (check the label!!!) . So there is no need to add shell grit.

Kooker · **Joined:** Tue Aug 09, 2011 5:41 pm **Posts:** 2

That's if you believe the label? I don't so I add separate grit and I would recommend you do the same

stormgirl · **Joined:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:59 pm **Posts:** 23

Kooker wrote:

That's if you believe the label? I don't so I add separate grit and I would recommend you do the same

i can't check the label any way...i no longer have the bag...chucked it when i bought it...lol but i have since put down the shell grit for them & they have already been into it...

AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

just a queary about shell grit

Who is on the Forum