Kinds of Grit 171 



fowl, require grit if hard food is given them. 

 When soft food alone is supplied, little or no 

 grit will be required. During the summer months, 

 when fowls have a large range, they are usually 

 able to find sufficient grit for themselves. Small 

 pieces of stone, cinders, etc., are eaten. Crushed 

 limestone and crushed granite also answer the 

 purpose admirably when it is necessary to supply 

 grit artificially. Crushed granite, on account of 

 its excessive hardness, is more durable than pieces 

 of softer material. There are many poultry supply 

 houses that keep crushed granite in various sizes, 

 suitable for all kinds of poultry. Crushed oyster 

 shells will also furnish material for grinding the 

 food, although they are not recommended solely 

 for this purpose. 



"Long or sharp splinters of glass or dry bone 

 should be avoided. The size of particles of grit 

 had, for hens, better be larger than that of a 

 kernel of wheat and should be smaller than that 

 of a kernel of corn. An unlimited supply of 

 pounded glass has been attended with no bad 

 result when the food and other grit available 

 to the fowls contained an abundance of lime, 

 but, when the food was deficient in lime and no 

 other grit was attainable, hens ate an injuriously 

 large amount of glass." * 



Lime. Many experiments and also chemical 



* Bulletin No. 38, New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 



