6 Best Chicken Grit Feeders For Improved Digestion That Old Farmers Swear By
Unlock better chicken digestion with a proper grit feeder. Explore 6 farmer-approved designs that reduce waste and ensure your flock stays healthy.
You’ve probably seen it: a chicken that just looks a little off, maybe picking at its food but not really eating with gusto. Before you start worrying about complex illnesses, the answer is often found in something far simpler and more ancient. The secret to a healthy flock often lies in a handful of tiny rocks.
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Why Grit is Essential for Your Flock’s Gizzard
Chickens don’t have teeth. Instead, they have a powerful muscular organ called the gizzard, which does all the grinding. They swallow their food whole, and it’s the gizzard’s job to pulverize it into a digestible paste.
But the gizzard can’t do this work alone. It needs an abrasive agent. That’s where grit comes in. Chickens instinctively eat small, hard particles like sand, gravel, or granite fragments. These particles collect in the gizzard and act like millstones, breaking down tough grains, seeds, and fibrous greens. Without grit, a chicken can’t properly extract nutrients from its food, leading to weight loss, poor health, and digestive blockage.
It’s crucial to understand the difference between insoluble and soluble grit. Insoluble grit, like crushed granite, is what we’re talking about for digestion. It stays in the gizzard for weeks or months, doing its grinding job. Soluble grit, like oyster shell or crushed eggshell, is a calcium supplement that dissolves in the digestive tract to support strong eggshells. Your flock needs both, but they must be offered in separate containers.
Miller Galvanized Feeder: A Durable Classic
When you think of old-school farm equipment, something like the Miller Galvanized Feeder probably comes to mind. It’s a simple, effective design that has stood the test of time for a reason. Typically shaped like a small trough with a wire guard or "anti-scratch" fins over the top, this feeder is built to last a lifetime.
Its biggest advantage is durability. Made from galvanized steel, it won’t rust out in a damp coop or get brittle and crack in the winter sun like some plastics. The design also does a decent job of minimizing waste. The wire guard prevents chickens from perching on the edge and pooping in the grit, and it makes it harder for them to kick the contents out with their feet.
The main tradeoff is its footprint. While effective, it takes up floor space. For this reason, it’s best to hang it just above the ground, at about the height of your chickens’ backs. This keeps it cleaner and discourages scratching, but you’ll need a place to hang it from. If left on the ground, it will inevitably get filled with bedding and droppings.
Little Giant Wall-Mounted Feeder for Small Coops
If you’re working with a small coop, floor space is gold. A wall-mounted feeder is the perfect solution for keeping grit available without creating an obstacle course. These feeders, often made of plastic or metal, screw directly onto an interior wall of the coop.
The primary benefit here is cleanliness and space efficiency. By getting the grit up off the floor, you ensure it stays free of bedding, moisture, and manure. The birds can access it easily, but they can’t stand in it or knock it over. This makes it an incredibly low-maintenance option for providing a critical resource.
Of course, there are considerations. Most wall-mounted units have a smaller capacity, so you’ll need to refill them more often than a large trough or a DIY bucket feeder, especially with more than a few birds. While metal versions are tough, some plastic models can become brittle after a few years of exposure to UV light and fluctuating temperatures. Still, for a small backyard flock, the convenience is hard to beat.
Brower Galvanized Trough for Easy Flock Access
For a larger flock, you need a solution that prevents a traffic jam. The Brower Galvanized Trough is a long, open feeder that allows multiple birds to eat at once. This reduces competition and ensures that even the more timid members of the flock get what they need.
The design is straightforward. It’s a long metal trough, often with a spinning reel on top. That reel is a simple but brilliant featureâif a chicken tries to hop on top to perch, the reel spins and gently rolls them off. This keeps the grit much cleaner than a completely open trough would be.
The downside is inherent in its open design. While the reel prevents perching, it does little to stop chickens from flinging bedding into it while they scratch around. To be effective, the trough must be placed strategically. Setting it on a couple of cinder blocks to raise it about six inches off the floor can make a world of difference in keeping the grit clean.
Ware Manufacturing Crock Feeder for Cage Mounting
Sometimes you need to provide grit to just one or two birds in a specific situation. This is where a small, heavy-duty crock feeder shines. These are typically ceramic or thick plastic cups with integrated wire hooks that allow you to hang them securely on the side of a cage, brooder, or quarantine pen.
This feeder is all about targeted application. It’s the perfect tool for ensuring chicks in a brooder have access to chick-sized grit, or for providing it to a new bird in isolation before it joins the main flock. They are nearly impossible to tip over, and their small size means you waste very little grit.
The limitation is obvious: capacity. A crock feeder is completely impractical for a whole flock. It’s a specialized piece of equipment, not a general solution. Think of it as a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. It does one job perfectly, but it’s not the right tool for every situation.
RentACoop Feeder Port for a DIY Grit Station
For the hobby farmer who likes a good project, the DIY approach offers the best of all worlds. Products like the RentACoop Feeder Port aren’t feeders themselves, but rather plastic ports that you install into a container of your own choosing. A five-gallon bucket with a lid is the classic choice.
The benefits are immense. You can create a high-capacity, completely weatherproof grit station that you might only need to fill once or twice a year. The port’s design keeps the grit perfectly clean and dry, and it produces almost zero waste. You drill a hole in the side of the bucket, pop the port in, fill it with grit, and you’re done. It’s the ultimate "set it and forget it" system.
The only real con is the initial setup. You need to have a bucket and a drill with the correct sized hole saw to install the port. It’s a five-minute job if you have the tools, but it’s more effort than simply buying a feeder off the shelf. For anyone managing more than a handful of birds, however, the long-term convenience is well worth the tiny bit of upfront work.
Behrens Galvanized Pan: The Simplest Solution
You can’t get much simpler than a shallow, heavy-duty galvanized pan. There are no parts to assemble, nothing to break, and nothing to install. You just put it on the ground and fill it with grit. It’s cheap, indestructible, and instantly deployable.
This approach works best for flocks that spend a lot of time free-ranging. You can place a pan near a favorite dusting area or under a bush where they like to hang out. Because it’s so low-profile, even hesitant birds will use it without a second thought. It’s a perfectly functional, no-frills option.
The major, non-negotiable drawback is hygiene. This feeder will get dirty. Fast. It will fill with rain, dirt, leaves, and droppings. To use this method effectively, you must commit to dumping it out, wiping it down, and refilling it with fresh grit every few days. It’s the simplest feeder, but it’s also the most high-maintenance.
Placing Your Grit Feeder for Maximum Benefit
Where you put your grit feeder is just as important as which one you choose. The goal is simple: keep the grit clean, dry, and constantly accessible. Placing the feeder inside the coop or in a covered part of the run is the best way to protect it from the elements.
A good rule of thumb is to position the lip of the feeder at the same height as the birds’ backs. This makes it easy for them to eat from but difficult for them to scratch bedding or dirt into it with their feet. Most importantly, never place a grit feeder directly underneath a roosting bar. That’s just asking for trouble.
Finally, remember that grit should always be offered "free-choice" in its own dedicated container. Never mix it into their feed. Chickens are remarkably good at regulating their own intake; they’ll eat it when they need it and leave it alone when they don’t. Mixing it in forces them to consume it with every bite, which can lead to crop impaction or other digestive issues. Trust your birds to know what their bodies need.
Ultimately, the best grit feeder is the one that fits your coop, your flock size, and your daily routine. Whether it’s a durable steel trough or a clever DIY bucket, the crucial thing is to make clean grit available at all times. It’s one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to ensure a healthy, thriving flock.
