Grit for chickens

Chickens can't chew, but their food does get ground up before being digested.  Those of you who have killed and gutted chickens for the table have probably discovered the gizzard --- a round object about half the size of your fist that, when cut open, is often full of hard objects like stones and sand.  The gizzard is a muscle that expands and contracts, working your chickens' dinner up against these objects (known as grit) to break the food into smaller pieces and aid in digestion.

People who keep their flocks in artificial environments have to provide grit for their birds or the chickens will be like a lot of old geezers who've lost their teeth and can only eat applesauce.  Chickens with no access to any kind of grit can do okay on commercial chicken feed since it's pre-ground, but they won't be able to digest whole grains and will have a tough time with most wild foods.

Pastured chickens usually pick up enough natural grit to do the job --- bones, rocks, and shells all act as grit in the wild.  But after reading that chickens will be less prone to forage if they don't have enough grit to grind up the tougher food, I decided to introduce some grit and see what happened.  You can buy grit in the feed store if money is burning a hole in your pocket, but I figured our flock would be fine with some creek gravel.  Our girls didn't seem very interested once they realized there was no food in the pile, which I figure is a good sign and indicates that our chickens are getting plenty of natural grit after all.