If you're missing this your chickens won't lay eggs.
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- beckyshomestead...
If you're backyard chickens don't have grit they won't lay eggs. So if you're having egg production problems you might be missing this important part of a chickens diet.
i am only 6 months old & i have a multi million dollar chicken enterprise all thanks to this channel. The knowledge of chickens you have has blessed us. Future generations will know everything you taught them! Thank you forever becky!
I am only 12 years old and I have started a pretty good size homestead because of all the knowledge you gave me. Thank you so much. You are awesome.
I’m 10 years old and I take care of my chickens,I’m watching these to get more knowledge about why and don’t about chickens.
I am 28 now and been having hens and roosters for 9 years now. It is so much fun and entertainment.
How is it going now? 💓
RafaeLLL MAGA probably shouldn’t be trying to talk to a 12 year old girl on UA-cam bro
Joe Jones yea... 🤣
THIS came at just the right time. Thank you SO much. We were about to give up and turn them all into soup. Bought grit today. Keeping my fingers crossed!
I stand by this 100%! Great advice! We had no eggs for a long time & the next day after giving them grit, our chickens laid 6 eggs! Thank you so much for the tips! 🐔❤️
It looks so serene and peaceful there. ❤️
Katie Evans trust me. It’s hard taking care of just chickens. We take a lot of time and effort to take care of ours
Becky, I am new to your channel and just love it!! You crack me up with the bloopers lol!! What an amazing & strong woman you are! I have learned alot from you! We have horses and alot of animals also. You are like this HUGE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE! It's pretty awesome that you can do everything from cooking & soap making to running your own farm ,fencing ,to building your own home !!!!! I send your videos to my nieces and the younger girls in our life. In hopes they subscribe and watch to see what an empowering woman you are and learn the importance of being independent !!!! I wish I would have had access to all this info when I was younger!! ( or atleast been your neighbor!! lol) Have you ever thought about putting all your advice & how to's into a book? It would be great to be able to hand your knowledge down to the younger ones as a guidebook as they start out on their own ! Thank you for sharing all your hard work and life with us, we really enjoy it and the girl power it brings to us!! lol !!!!
Thanks so much. 💋👙💄👠💥 girl power!!
😵
Worked well! Egg shells and ground oyster shells from the feed store (cheap) work great, too. Your hens probably had cleared their pen floor of all grit. If you lived in the south, you could use crawfish shells, too! LOL!
Is diatomaceous earth food-grade healthy for them as well or no because that's also ground up seashells
Truthful comments DE is GREAT for them and they use it in their sand baths as well. It stays cool. I use the Ashe from a fire WOOD ONLY fire and let it burn down to ash and shovel it up and mix it into their sand
Becky, love the way your potbelly (or mini pig, which ever you prefer) is standing in the background like he's learning too and paying attention to what your saying. He's GORGEOUS!! I got one too her name is Maggie Mae.
Could you please do a video on cleaning your chicken coop?? Or maintaining it? Thanks -DIR!!♡♡
we don't always have to agree..but I do like most of your videos
my chickens have been laying about 2 eggs a week (Right now I have 5 older Rhode Island Reds) they are in a yard pen and never thought to give them grit! I used to when they were younger, but forgot all about it till this video! Thanks again Becky for helping me out. (David Hudson: Grit does indeed not aide in laying eggs, BUT...If momma ain't happy no one ain't happy. )
I really like your chicken vids. I've learned a lot about keeping chickens.
I just wanted, to let you know, how much I enjoy your videos. Done well, informative and enjoyable. I am interested, in getting about 6 to 8 hens, to start raising them, for eggs, only. So, again, thanks.
I have been a successful farmer which has included many different varieties of live stock including chickens for over 30 years. Grit is not a necessity. you can provide that by simply allowing them to feed out doors. However the eggshell or oyster shell is for the calcium and they do need that for laying. You can either buy it or you can take the eggshells that you have already used put them on a low setting in your oven to dry them. crush or pulverize them and give them back to your birds. This will provide adequate calcium needed to make strong shells.
Your the best Becky, keep doing what your doing
This is interesting.......I have 30 hens and I have never given them grit. I get almost 30 eggs every single day. BUT, I am going to buy some grit just to make sure they get what they need.
+Lynn Crum Lynn, what breed do you have? Plus I'm guessing your flock is still pretty young, meaning less than 3 years old, and that is one great reason you're getting almost an egg a day from each. That will slow down some but if you have Leghorns or Red Stars and some other big time layers you will definitely average an egg a day to 5-6 a week for awhile. I too have about 30 chickens and since mine free range I don't ever give mine grit. I never have. If yours are in a pen like hers than it definitely is a good idea. As you see her chickens have picked that place over pretty well and there's not a piece of green grass to be seen. That's totally normal so I'm guessing they must've ate most of the grit too, even though there's ALWAYS grit in the dirt but maybe hers need more. Chickens will stop laying a couple times a year to molt and also some will slow laying in the winter months when the light of day is shorter. Has nothing to do with the cold, it's the lack of daylight. Also, if they get stressed at all they can stop laying also, like if there was a fox attack that got one that can send the whole flock into stress mode. She has a dog so that is great and helpful. If you keep your hens in a penned area like this you can certainly give them grit and it will be fine but if they free range you don't need to spend that extra money. In my chicken raising experience that is and I've raised over 100 now. Good luck!
Mine are Rhode Island Reds that range anywhere from 3-6 years old. I also have about a dozen Bantams.
RIR are awesome layers! I have 2 myself! And I love love my silky girls (bantams) but boy do they like to go broody! (Meaning they want to lay on eggs and hatch babies. I let some hatch some in the Spring but usually they end up in the "broody breaker" to snap them out of the broodiness. Bantams are so sweet and they're awesome "incubators"! lol)
rd
if you rotate areas then you don't need grit but if you keep them in the exact same place like she does then eventually they will eat all the natural grit off the ground
I love your site, and I'm inspired by how you've made your lifestyle choices work for you! I'm in the process of purchasing my own small home (400sq') and simplifying as you have. Thanks for showing how!
Hi BECKY!
I love your videos so much.
And sometimes i say "I need to have my homestead too"
You are AMAZING.
I love your videos, especially those cooking videos.I'm a chilt but that don't says that I don't have to wach your videos.
I don't have chickens,horse,donkey and even goats but I love your HOMESTEAD.
I can't wait for Sunday to come and see your new videos.
See you !
Byeeeee.
3:11
The cat be like
(In a deep voice) uhh why are you looking at me like that
Hey Becky,
Have you tried eggshells?
What I do is I feed the shells back to the hens along with eggs that aren't up to my personal standards back to them. They LOVE the eggs and their shells.
Just FYI!
Nice vid. Happy Sunday!
+ellie elizabeth yep, we do the same with our shells (more for the calcium) but are always very careful to make sure they are ground up well.
Egg shells (or oyster shell) provide calcium. Egg shells are made from calcium- so chickens need it in their diet. Grit is different, it helps with digestion. It breaks down the food so it can be digested :)
We use egg shells for our chickens too! Dried, baked, and crumbled.
ellie elizabeth I'm surprised your hens don't eat the eggs they lay, thus can happen so your lucky.
That's a good way to get your chickens pecking eggs, looking for the shells.
@@jessivogel3264 looks like I burned some of the egg shells in the oven. Is it OK to still use the slightly burned ones?
That's an interesting point. Chickens don't lay if they're not eating enough and they need grit to grind their food up; so I guess if they don't have it then they won't digest what they are getting properly. If you're running chickens on grit free soil or run them for a long time in the same area so the grit gets used up, then I guess you're going to have to add it. I've also wondered if they maybe get some minerals from the stones in the process.
Hi!
Dear Becky, i watch your videos a lot because it realy will help us out in our homestead what we are going to get soon! I appriciate the tings what you do for us!
Thanks! :)
I have had chickens off and on for decades and have never purchased any for my girls. They were all let out every morning and ran and scratched all day long and did just fine. When their shells got soft, I first purchased oyster shell calcium. Once I started getting eggs and had candled all of them, I kept those with irregular shells or blood spots. I cracked the eggs to get the contents out and then washed the egg shells, dried them and ground them up to give back to my girls. Free calcium.
Great videos Becky, we run a small animal farm / rescue in Canada and really like what you're doing. I will have to watch more of your videos and see what new things I can learn, again... Great Job!!
Mark
Thanks, Becky!
Great video! I bring home sand from the river near our house when we go swimming, works perfectly for free!
what I do is after I cook eggs I let the sheets dry and crush them up and mix in with the hens food and it's good as a grit also as it digests it gives them extra calcium in there diet for better eggs. love ur videos keep them coming
shells
+Robert Lawton that's what I do!
Yeah its recycling at its finest lol
Good idea, cheaper than buying grit
I will try this. My chickens have not been laying since about August. They stated molting in September and all of them have had all their feathers back since a month ago an they are still not laying. I will keep you posted.
i love this life style just didnt have anyone who think like you thank so much i cant wait to find land owner financing
Your dog is so cute 😍!!! I absolutely love your channel Becky 🤗!!! I love how educational and helpful your channel is 😁!!!
Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it☀️❤️☀️
To Missey Rabbit. You are correct when you say they won't touch the eggs when you watch them, I don't know why this is, except to say some inborn instinct tells them this behaviour is wrong, they do it when you are not watching, normally it is their own eggs, but it can spread like a bad habit to the other hens in the flock. That is the reason most farmers will kill the birds that do this. Now for grit,, hens need a certain amount of grit to help them digest their food. Free range hens running around a farm yard like they used to do in Ireland, would have picked up,small stones, pieces of flint sand, this would do the same job as grit. The grit I leave with them contains a certain amount of cockleshell, I believe comes from sea crustitations. If you cleaned out a chicken for the pot, and opened the gizzard you would find it full of small stones. Chickens use it for breaking down their food. We feed mostly a good quality chickens or layers pellets, where as in nature a chicken eats almost anything beetles worms grubs green foods weeds, corn heads, they scratch in the soil and can find all this type of food as in nature. Normally nowadays we call free range hens, as long as they have a certain amount of green to run about. They are mostly penned up in patches of ground. with net wire. The hen that roams completely free, is dangerous, especially predictors like foxes, dogs and even cats. Also hens are more inclined to lay away, in ditches or hedges etc., I remember many times a hen comming back home with maybe even a flock of 8 or ten chickens with her. that she had hatched out somewhere in the hedges. This is a lovely surprise when it happens, but very rare now. I haven't seen this happen now in the last 40 years. Give them good quality grit, they will only eat it if they require it. I leave it with mine all the time. Hope this little piece advice helps someone out there. Have a lovely time, with your lovely chickens. P S. sometimes pullets starting to lay can lay double yolk eggs, but I rather not see it happen, as a young bird can push her egg bag out, if the egg is to big. This is something to be aware off. Thank you for reading and GOD BLESS.
I like your kitty. My barn cats ignore the chickens and the geese chase the cats.
You're awesome! Considering chickens for eggs, but not sure of the cost ratio! Live on a very small budget and income! Worried about cost for coop,feed, etc.
I had help with that. Back in the 80s I knew a loan officer personally and she loaned me $400.00 to get started. I had a camper shell on 2x4s and used fiberglass siding to cover the sides. I bought feeders, waterers, medicine and lots of wire. I used 1x10s for the nest boxes and dowels for the roosts. When it got cold I used a packing blanket to nail across the front of the camper shell and rolled that down on the cold and wet days. It kept the wind and rain out. Once I had all that paid off, I bought the chicks and starter feed. When they got older I switched them to laying mash and as they started laying, I bought oyster shell calcium and then switched to eggs shells to keep their shells strong. I banded each one and figured what egg she laid and kept a detailed record of individual production and breed production. Once I knew how many eggs I could sell each week I raised my price per dozen up to cover their feed. I saved eggs from the best layers and incubated them and was going to replace my lazy layers with the pullets, but a stray dog killed most of them.
Thank you!!! I thought only babies needed it. Wow I will put out first thing tomorrow even tho they are free range. 👏🏼😍
Un videoclip reușit 👍 felicitări. Diversitate plăcută la fermă.
Salutări din Suceava România 🇦🇩.
Thank you very much for letting us know
Do you think it would be better to have a Safety net over them though? Although if you haven't seen any Eagle's isn't it good to be on the safe side? Oh my Neil is such a dear,..so sweet,..
Decomposed granite works as well and can be found in the rock area of hardware stores.
Decomposing granite gives off Radon gas. That’s ☢️. True you need a reasonable quantity to matter but would you ingest a radioactive material on purpose?
I'm 13 and live in England, and I subscribe and watch every farm video, yes yes I'm a very weird boy xd!
It’s not weird son the world needs more boys and girls like you. That learn how the world operates and learn how to live without technology. It’s ok to know technology and to live with it but you should always know how to survive without it.
thanks Becky!
What's grit?
Cool! Good to know!😀 Thanks Becky!💕
Becky I love your chickens, but I do have to says I love Neil more .he is so cute!!!!!
oyster shells work great for grit if you have acces to them
Becky you are awesome, please mention me in one of your videos! And can you do a video on how to build a chicken coop?
Holy crap, I've owned chickens for 10 years and they have produced eggs daily for me, every single one of them, and none of them had any grit at all! They must be some super power chickens, right?
i like your videos just keep on making more videos thank you
2:03 I thought only teenagers said DUHHH 😂
She’s of the generation that made it popular so it’s probably stuck. I don’t think kids say it anymore
Where do you put their grit? On the ground or in their feeder? TIA! New to channel and LOVE it!
Good to know. Thanks!!
My chickens have a whole sand pit available to them and they still haven't layed since they molted last fall.
I have a blue layer and all of a sudden it's stopped laying
Another well done video
Great info! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks so much for this info. I have forgot to give my chickens grit smh🙌🏾😫
If your goats ever have babies again, you should do a "how to deliver a goat" video! 😄🐐🙏🏻
Grit helps with hen's digestion as they don't have teeth. In the wild a bird would pick up grit off the ground but if they are in a coop they may be short of grit.
Ground oyster shells are used for the calcium to generate egg shells. Ground hen's egg shells are NOT a substitute but, like the grit, they can get some off the ground.
Another point. I see in many of these vids that the hens are raised on bare soil. Be careful, the ground can get sick. Best if you can move them to other areas so as to rest previous areas.
Finally, if you rear them on grass with plants you barely (or don't) need to feed them with store-bought poultry feed.
What is grit? Is that chicken food? I haven't had my chickens for years like you, so I'm kind of looking up to you. To me your like a professional. I only had my chicks for like a month. So, what is grit?
+Shimmer Cookie It's can be sharp sand when they are little, then ground up oyster shells. Go to Beckyshomestead.com then click on Chickens. You will find all my videos to help you out.
Hi Becky, I am new to Chickens and was wondering how often to feed them the Grit? Thanks
Hī Becky, my five 1/2 rir leg horn are just a little over 1 yr. Old 1 of them stopped Laying eggs after it Got a eye infection. So everyday i was getting 4 eggs. Now some days i get 2 to 3 eggs. Their food & waterer are all good. I treated the hen with the eye infection and She looks good. I just purchased some de earth (food safe) Im going to the beach and get some sand. Is the beach sand ok? Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thank you!
You look AMAZING!
hey Beck are barred rocks better at laying if you have a very good suggestion about wich chicken is the best egg layer please notify me thank you
Why didn't I think of this earlier ! I was giving them oyster shell and thought that might help ... nope 🤦♀️
Becky,
What chicken mash are you using? Are you referring to crumbles or something different? Thx.
I use egg shells for calcium to help with egg laying. Grit is for grinding the food not egg laying.
hi becky, I have one hen , she lays small eggs , there not soft. I have a rooster but he is in a separate cage so the chicken is not so stressed out. plus I have young friends meaning kids and they are always around her when she's free roaming around the yard. Is there a way to get my egg production back , she's not at the age where she stops laying eggs . can you help me please Becky.
Hello Becky I have a question I have game birds like pheasants that’s I’ve been feeding scratch to I’ve recently heard it’s not the best choice. What should I feed them instead?Maybe some kind of game bird feed? I only keep them as pets
I have a question. If chickens go a long time without laying will that stop them from ever laying?
I just see that they are missing some straw to scratch around in,and grass clippings,they love and really miss grass when they dont have it...unless you let them out to roam and scratch around.
Becky I know this is just my opinion but I like the,darker hair. The bleach hair makes you look older. Love you and your videos. Your hair,your bussiness, your choice still love ya.
I have had chickens at two of the places I have lived. Never gave them grit. They eat small rocks and sand to replenish what they grind up in their gizzards. As for calcium, I would sell the good eggs and eat the misshapen, soft shelled, too small or blood spotted ones and save the shells. I would dry them in the microwave and break them up. Those went to the henhouse. Free calcium.
Interesting, I've never used grit, use a plain Dumor 16% layer pellets and.. no problem.
Ok i have an issue im new with chickens i just brought 4 days ago 5 red chickens and 5 white chickens it seems the red ones are a bit older so they peek on the other girls they are a bit stressed the next day i brought a Rooster in the first hour 4 of them fought with him then they all calmed down now they respect him and he takes care of them the bully hens are still bullying but not as much as before. They still aren't laying, and i cant take em out of the flock till they get used to it so they'd return from their walk. How many more days or weeks till they start laying eggs? What can i do to help em? They are still getting used to me but i know they got closer to me because i bring the food and they even step on me when i get the food lol plus theres this pullet i think that follows me around its so cute 😍 im so in love with my new babies.
Wow, the easiest answer is the best
I have free ranged chickens for over 50 years and have never fed grit. As long as they have their range, they seem to pick up enough grit and calcium.
+MrOldclunker Her's aren't free ranging so I think that must be her issue. Mine free range and I've raised chickens for years myself and never feed grit. They definitely get enough out and about. Her area looks pretty picked over so I think they'd need it.
I don't let mine free range because when I go in the cabin they all wait for me on the porch, pooping in front of the door. Plus they love to "garden" with me. ❤️😀🐝☀️🐷🐔
Gotta love the poop on the front porch....my come back to why I keep chickens that poop on the front porch...Hey Babe the chickens need worming again. !!! LOL
I have the exact same problem. That fenced in area is looking very tempting... Chicken poop everywhere, and holes in the garden, as well as plants eaten, is not pleasant.
hi beacky I am new to your channel and I love it and your chicken facts thank if u see this msg keep posting vids
Hi really need help they all three have grit and we’ll supplemented food, free roaming water clean coop clean laying. Need help could someone offer advice don’t know what to do are they done laying? They are only about two years maybe 1 1/2 years old
How often do you have to feed them grits?
YOUR THE BEST !!
This is not true. If a chicken is outside, they will eat rocks on their own. Grit aids digestion, thats it. Bags of feed at the store are very soft/easy to digest and have the calcium they need to lay strong eggs. Your chickens were probably molting/in a rest period. I have been raising chickens my whole life and have never given them grit. Never had chickens stop laying, except for molting.
No they weren't molting. Grit is used in digestion of the food for the chicken. If the chicken can not digest it's food properly it lacks nutrients to produce eggs. ❤️😀☀️🐷🐝🐔
Becky is correct, her hens are in a pen and have already picked through the available small stones. Free-range chickens do not usually need to be given grit but will gladly gobble it up if it's provided. No need to pick on her, she's just sharing what worked for her. If others don't want to try it, she's not calling the chicken police.
+Meghan Hawley I know nothing about chickens but I once went to a talk about them and the chap said they need the 3 Gs....Grains, grit and grass : )
+Muslim Evangelist That's a sorry and hateful comment. Her videos are another tool that folks can use to learn stuff. Go away little hateful troll.
+Becky's Homestead OH MY WORD!!! Ive been tearing my hair out - have got 1 egg from 18 birds in 2 weeks. Im trying this manana!
I dont undrestand what grit is?.
Becky I have a question, we bought a few small things of grit and oyster shells from big r, but when we try to give it to the chickens they aren't interested, they are still laying eggs so they must be finding small rocks in the dirt, but do you recommend anything?
Scarlet, they will take it as they need it. Just keep it in a dish for them when they do need it.
What is grit? Sand?
Brooke Young it is usually oyster shells...you can buy it at your regular feed store.
Oyster shells are used for a calcium supplement (though, perhaps they do act as a sort of grit)
But, generally when people are talking about grit for chickens it is small rocks.
I believe sand can be used for chicks.
Do chushed oyster shells help?
Could you make a video on all your animals
Becky I have a question, I have 4 chickens at home but sometimes the eggs are like a weird wrinkly egg shape it just like more of a circle
What do I do to prevent this from happening?
Will play sand work?
I have a two days old male chicken. He lay eggs, what's wrong with him?
Do you use grit as well as laying mash? If so should you use equal parts in your feeder? thank you :)
KaiSmeaton it should be free choice, not with the other feed.
Hi Becky,
I have free range chooks who are on 5 acres ( although they dont venture out to far )
and i was wondering if they still need grit supplied ? I had heard previously that free range chickens will find their own grit as they are scavenging around.
Thank you :)
Laiton lintu they should have access to free choice oyster shell.
What is grit?
I'm not really understanding the naming of meat hogs.
There should be a comma after "this" in the tittle.
Thanks, spelling is my weak spot.
+Becky's Homestead- Your spelling is alright, it's just little "Punctuation" error.
my girls have 2 are 3 & 4 I lost 2 last year
feed your chickens the egg shells for stronger eggs also..
Where do u get the grit from
Your too cute!
how long should you wait to eat an egg after it is laid???
+Jeremy Medford Between 1 minute and 6 months, depending on how you keep it.
crazy808ish i thought maybe you had to wait a day or two before eating them
Jeremy Medford Nope. The only reason you would want to wait, is if you were making hard-boiled eggs. Waiting a week or so makes them easier to peel. Outside of that, there is no quality or safety reason to wait...
hi
where are you from??
i want to meet you
You are Dutch, aren't you? I have an acquaintance with Dutch ancestry and you look just like her!