Oystershell grit

[Icemaiden]

Is there any reason why I can't make my own oystershell grit?

The last 5kg bag of "oystershell grit" that I bought turned out to be about 4.5kg grit & only 0.5kg oystershell. The hens peck out the tiny amount of oystershell & leave most of the grit behind, as they've got plenty of that available already. So, living close to the North Kent coast which is littered with oyster shells, I wondered if I can add extra oystershell to the grit that I have.

I guess I'd need to start by washing the shells in soapy water & then boiling them in clean water to remove any risk of bird flu. When they've cooled, do I simply smash them up with a lumphammer?

Could the pieces be too sharp? Should I just try it & see? Have any of you done this yourselves?

 

[chrismahon]

Not sure the grit is oyster shells crushed up? Looking at the stuff we have in our mixed grit (bought in England) it contains much smaller pieces of broken shell which look like cockles?

 

[Icemaiden]

Hmm ?

 

[Marigold]

Interesting idea, Icemaiden, you’ve got me worried now! I think your idea of sterilising them is very good, and probably necessary - I wonder whether the oystershell on sale might pose a risk of bird flu, I bet they don’t treat it as you suggest, to kill off possible infection.
Maybe it’s the grit, ie the small stones, that they have to have, to grind up their food, and the oystershell is a calcium supplement mainly? In which case, the calcium in pellets should be sufficient in itself? I don’t find that my girls eat much of either, though a grit and shell mix is always available in a separate feeder and they live in an enclosed run.

 

[bigyetiman]

I thought the oystershell was just for calcium, ours contains a mix of shell and grit. They don't eat a lot of it.

 

[Shadrach]

Is there any reason why I can't make my own oystershell grit?

The last 5kg bag of "oystershell grit" that I bought turned out to be about 4.5kg grit & only 0.5kg oystershell. The hens peck out the tiny amount of oystershell & leave most of the grit behind, as they've got plenty of that available already. So, living close to the North Kent coast which is littered with oyster shells, I wondered if I can add extra oystershell to the grit that I have.

I guess I'd need to start by washing the shells in soapy water & then boiling them in clean water to remove any risk of bird flu. When they've cooled, do I simply smash them up with a lumphammer?

Could the pieces be too sharp? Should I just try it & see? Have any of you done this yourselves?

What feed to you give them and what is the percentage of calcium in the feed?

Yes you can make your own calcium supplement by smashing up oyster shells. Wash, rinse and put them in the oven a 200C to dry them out properly. Smash the shells up with a hammer.

 

[Icemaiden]

Thanks Shadrach. I feed my girls Smallholder Layers pellets; the nutritional information is on the top of the sacks, but they open at the bottom. So I can tell you the calcium content when we empty the bag ?.
They also have 2/3rd tsp Poultry Spice (for 6 hens) added to their layers' pellets each day & Kent's finest chalky tap water to drink. But they still like to pick the oystershell out of the grit feeder.

It might be because 4 of them are ex-batts & Holly (my white leghorn) has laid over 1100 eggs in her lifetime, so they do get through a fair amount of calcium...

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks Shadrach. I feed my girls Smallholder Layers pellets; the nutritional information is on the top of the sacks, but they open at the bottom. So I can tell you the calcium content when we empty the bag ?.
They also have 2/3rd tsp Poultry Spice (for 6 hens) added to their layers' pellets each day & Kent's finest chalky tap water to drink. But they still like to pick the oystershell out of the grit feeder.

It might be because 4 of them are ex-batts & Holly (my white leghorn) has laid over 1100 eggs in her lifetime, so they do get through a fair amount of calcium...

I've a bag of what's described as mixed grit that has oyster shell in it that I leave a handfull of by the feeder a couple of times a week. I feed smallholders pellets as well. They do work through the grit and shell but very slowly.

 

[Icemaiden]

My current grit, which was sold to me as oystershell grit, is mixed grit. The problem is that it only contains a tiny amount of oystershell. They've eaten all of the oystershell and I'm left with plain grit. Hence my quest to add more oystershell to it...

 

[Hen-Gen]

Don’t know how true it is but I was told that grit consumption is based on their diet. Hens fed on layers pellets
a) need little grit to grind up their food
b) pellets are nutritionally complete so they don’t need extra calcium.
It follows from that that hens eating grain or free ranging and eating all sorts do need grit.

 

[chrismahon]

We have bought Oystershell grit in England which was all ground-up shells, but ended up not using it after realising that it could mess up the Calcium/ Phosphorous balance (8:1) and make the thin shelled egg problem even worse. Here you can't get mixed grit only shells, because the way chickens were reared was free-ranging and scatterings of mixed grain in the farmyard twice a day. Their diet didn't contain Calcium, so it had to be added. Most chicken keepers still do that. Coops with enclosed runs and pellets for feed are quite a new thing here, but the mixed grit required with them hasn't been introduced- we had to buy it in England (last trip 6 years ago). We bought two sacks and have only used half of one so far, so we won't run out.

 

[Icemaiden]

Don't they have trouble with foxes in France, Chris? Or do the chasse keep them away?

 

[chrismahon]

We do have problems with foxes, but only at night, so chickens do need to be locked into a secure coop. I have seen a fox crossing the fields during the day, but only one in 10 years. Often hear them calling at night and I heard one squeal as it hit the 8000V electric fence last week- it hasn't been back. Daytime problems are stray dogs, buzzards and pine martens, because we saw one in the front garden. We lost our last two bantams to (probably) that pine marten last Summer. They were killed when they came out into the run in the morning- one head and neck removed is the clue to the culprit. Perhaps the hunting does keep foxes nocturnal, but for how long I don't know? The 4 million registered hunters dropped to 1 million after the new license exams were introduced and the increased safety legislation just introduced may reduce them further? We do have one hen who can free-range if she wants, but we are well aware of the risks.

 

[Icemaiden]

On balance it sounds like a pretty reasonable life for your flocks Chris. Flockdown permitting, I do my admin outside if it's dry, so that I can let the girls out for a few hours during the day (if I'm not in the studio teaching glass art classes). But when the hens are out, even going inside to use the loo is risky. Twice last year in broad daylight I had to frighten off foxes who were chasing the girls. One was a young fox & the hen was sounding a "monster alert" but the second time the hen was so focused on running from a big dog fox that all I heard was the whoosh of a hen dashing away at full pelt. Both times it was between 10am & 6pm...