Is chicken grit necessary?
yes, it is! We are often asked why we advise giving hens grit on a regular basis and the answer is simple: oyster grit is a vital element in your hens’ digestive process. This is because hens do not have teeth. Instead they have a gizzard – a muscular part of the stomach that grinds grains and fiber into more digestible particles using – you guessed it – grit.
The nitty gritty
Chicken oyster shell grit is a material that is eaten by all types of birds, to aid digestion. Hens need grit to breakdown other types of feed so that it can be properly absorbed. Without grit chickens are unable to digest larger food items which can lead to blockages, illness and in severe cases even death. However, it is important to remember that there are different grades of grit and they perform two different functions in your hens.
How does grit work?
When your hen tucks into her pellets or corn the food passes into her crop (imagine that this is the hen’s shopping basket). Feed is stored for up to six hours where it softens and swells and starts the process of digestion. During the course of the day the food leaves the crops and enters the proventriculus. This is the narrow, glandular first region of a bird’s stomach – sometimes known as the ‘true stomach’ – situated between the crop and the gizzard. Here the feed is mixed with hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes such as pepsin, which break down protein and peptides and assist with absorption.
Having left the proventriculus the feed enters a tough muscular structure called the gizzard. This is the grinding mill of the gut. Here the insoluble grit helps to grind up the fibers in vegetation and breaks down the hard husks of grains and seeds that your hen might eat. This grinding processes the food into a form that allows the nutrients to be worked on by digestive enzymes and absorbed into the bloodstream.
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