http://www.seedfactory.com/Bird-Grit/bird-grit-mineral-grit-grey.html
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/avian_charge_2000.html?aid=ws20110218ic&utm_source=ws20110218ic&utm_medium=email&utm_content=imglink&utm_campaign=ws20110218
When I was at the feed store the other day I saw a type of grit I had never seen before. It's from The Seed Factory something called Mineral Grit. It's a mixture that seems to be mostly calcium carbonate although when you click on the link it has a fairly wide spectrum of other minerals and oyster shell. This grit is very fine and looks like it would work for chicks and pigeons. I am looking into its value for chickens. It might be just the ticket in places that are mineral deficient. I included the link for those who are interested. The mineral Grit is the one on the upper left.
http://www.seedfactory.com/Bird-Grit/bird-grit-mineral-grit-grey.html
They say it reduces picking. Picking can be a huge problem when you are brooding new chicks or mixing new birds with the old flock. (No-- I never off my old hens. Any one who has laid eight times their weight in eggs during their lifetime gets a free pass here at .410 Acres when they get old.) Besides even when they are old they still lay a few eggs.
This, however, is not the case for boarding hens (non-layers). I will cover the boarding hen dilemma in another post.
Personally I find picking to be more of a pecking order problem contained in a constellation of other semi-related issues.
Here's a general check list to help sort out whats happening:
1.) Dominance or in other words the pecking order. If there is a single bird of another breed in the flock it is almost always the one to get picked. I always to try to have several of each breed so that they have a group.
I recently acquired one Red Ameraucana. She arrived with some Rhode Island Red hens. At first glance I thought she was a Rhode Island---it was dark in that coop and I was trying to lift the hens off their roosts with a minimum of flapping and squawking ---but a couple days after she arrived I saw the ear tufts and muff when the other hens chased her into a corner. This hen---even though the coop is very large and I put out feed in three feeders was chased relentlessly. Sadly I found her a new home since my flock has not one Ameraucana at the moment--which is unusual.
The down side of dominance-pecking is the pecked hen will go down in condition and not lay eggs and be a vector of bird lice and mites. I have seen this happen consistently enough that I cull the bird or find it a flock in which it will be accepted before it goes down in condition.
BTW that Ameraucana mentioned above had really bad lice--had to dust her from head to toe. The other hens wouldn't let her near the dust bath either.
2.) Space. Every hen needs room to roam and scratch. This is the biggest issue for cooped hens because they cannot get away from a more dominant hen. Cooped hens should have at least 4 square feet each to be comfortable. They will cluster together to feed and socialize but conversely when they need space--they need space and if they are too crowded they will select one bird to be the pecked bird--even a bird of their own breed--usually a smaller hen.
3.) Food. Picking can also be caused by nutrient deficiencies if dominance or space is not an issue.
Hens are naturally omnivorous. They eat a mix of green foods, insects and other protein sources. A laying hens diet should be about 16-20% protein. Now this is fairly easy to achieve with most ready made feeds available at the local feed store. The other important factor is the quality of the protein---the amino acids in particular. Some of the organic/vegetarian feed mixes a few years back were met with this problem--head on so to speak. When the hens raised on their feed mixes were relentless pickers throughout their lives--no matter the space given or breeds involved.
A whole lot of research was poured into this problem and it was discovered that hens have a need of the amino acid methionine --an amino acid that is found in rich supply in insect life and is completely unavailable in vegetarian sources.
Of course the answer is let your poultry out to hunt for insect life and they will conversely do you the favor of keeping bugs out of the garden.
Unfortunately it is not always possible to let your poultry out into the garden or pasture where predators are an issue.
As long as I follow the general guidelines listed above picking is minimal and limited to the occasional dominant hen who thinks she should be first at the feeder. More about this later.
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