Too much grit.

chrismahon

chrismahon

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We have two Buff Orpington hens over 2 years old. They both carry huge crops. One has wasted away so she has a very prominant breast bone and is now a bit sluggish. She's had cod liver oil and a good massage for the last week but still isn't pooing solids. I first assumed impacted gizzard as her sister had that last year caused we think by damson stones -took a nail biting month to get her back to eating solids and pooing them. But the damsons are not falling yet.

Yesterday I checked her crop which had reduced in size somewhat and firmed up. Strange thing, it seems to rattle as you massage it. This morning I checked her crop again and it was huge. There is also an area in the run covered in almost clear watery poo full of bits of grit -her morning poo? I watched her for a few moments picking bits of grit thrown onto the floor by the other hens and eating them and the penny dropped. That's all she is eating !!! I've seen her tour the other coop runs and eat off the floor around the feeders and now I know what she is eating -her sister as well to a lesser extent. So her crop is now completely full of mixed grit.

We use mixed grit which we sprinkle lightly into the feeders. The other hens either eat it as required or discard it onto the floor when found. Has anyone else had hens apparently addicted to grit? (I've removed the grit from their food now). Any ideas how to limit her intake of grit should she survive?
 
Just to add. Found when they were let out she ran straight to one of many soil baths and proceeded to pick up small pieces of gravel and eat them! Both her and her sister, whose crop is about to explode I'm sure, have been confined to their run. If they start digging up the grass to get more grit they will be moved onto concrete slabs. Obviously we've got to break their habit.
 
i sprinkle bits of grit in the feeder, but never had a problem. Try to encourage hewr to eat anything but grit! Try pellets. why dont you try keep her in a cagge with pellets and water for 24 hours and see if any improvement. Sorry, cant be of much help, i dunno what i would do.
 
They have been in the run for three days. Both have been digging up the grass to find grit but have eaten a lot more feed than usual, but still not enough. Giving them tomatoes, pears and cucumber. Their crops don't rattle as much now.
Trouble with a cage is they don't move about much.
 
Update. After weeks of no grit and confined to the run we introduced their daughters to them. Took their mind off grit completely and ate normally from there on. Think it was the example of the new hens that they followed that broke the grit habit. They eat normally now, in fact they are rather fat.
 
I think everyone does things slightly differently, however I have never given my poultry grit, they do free -range and pick up most of the grit they need for their gizzard naturally. I believe your lot mostly free-range Chris?
 
Well Foxy, they are confined to their runs in the morning so that they eat some proper food. Otherwise they fill up with all manner of rubbish from the Orchard. Then they are allowed to free range inthe afternoon but I prefer to give them grit as there is all sorts of stuff buried in the garden. Found little green plastic pods that the blackrocks were eating. Turned out to be the water trapping component in houseplant pots. Two of the blackrocks died shortly after that.
 
Hi ChrisMahon. One thing I noticed a while ago when I asked a friend to buy me some oyster shell. He came back with a mixed bag of grit and shell. It was mostly grit! And worse still the grit was the same colour and size as the shell pieces. I never used it for fear of the problem you describe. Did you buy some of this horrrible concoction by mistake? Or anyway perhaps if you give your hens a bit more shell than you are, they might eat it instead and stop eating too much grit?
 
Hi Animartco. We buy standard mixed grid as you describe. We don't use just Oyster Shell grit because it gives them too much Calcium in my opinion and there is enough in layers pellets for their needs. All our others are fine, they only eat as much grit as they need. It's just the Buff Orpingtons are very peculiar with their feeding. I think part of the problem was we gave them too much in their feed before so now we have cut down considerably on it. We just kept adding grit as it was being consumed without thinking. They are the only ones that flick feed out of the feeder with their beaks and eat it off the floor as well!
 
Unless chickens have access to a lot of free rangeing they do need a supply of mixed grit which is best fed in a container separate to the feed. They will ration themselves in normal times. They need grit to hepl break down any hard feed.
 
Think you are right Chuck. We need to go back to separate grit containers rather than putting grit in the feed. What sort do you use? I ask because we have two types, wall mounted galvanised which is too deep, or floor standing galvanised tray which gets full of poo.
 
i just use a fairly heavy ceramic flowerpot about 9ins across, with a drainage hole, jammed into a corner of the run and held in place upright by a couple of large bricks to make the other two 'sides.' They can't get into it to scratch or poo.
 
Thanks Marigold. Ideally we would like something attached to the side of the run that's easily removeable. The runs are too small really anyway and too heavy as well. So to move them we need to shed as much weight as possible -even the difference between wet and dry wood framework is surprising.
 
For grit I'm using plastick grit container with lid(the type which is available in most poulty shops.My cop is standing on legs really high so container goes under it on the side.When filled with grit is so heavy so it cant really get knock over.They have a mix there grit,oyster shell and crushed egg shell.They can chose whenewer they wonted.Outside for water I'm using same style of container(until I make nipple drinker for them)
 
Thanks Tygrysek. We'll see what's available at the Stafford show on Saturday as we don't really have Poultry shops locally, there are a lot of shops/agricultural suppliers, but they only stock a small variety -even Wilko's does now!
 
these from Omlet are good, just clip on the side of the mesh (but not on to my 1/2'' mesh unfortunately.)
they don't have drainage holes but do seem to keep the feed or grit inside quite dry and of course you could always drill them.
 
Thanks Marigold, but our mesh is chicken wire to keep the weight (and cost) down so they won't fit properly. But we do have wooden uprights to screw stuff to. Need something like a Metro screenwash bottle which was removeable from a clip so you could fill it easily -can't get them now of course.
 
I use all kinds of containers and fit them in where I can. Some ceramic, some tin. I might try flower pots though as I've a few of them hanging around.
 
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