We feed our chickens rocks??

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July 5, 2022

We give our poultry 100% crushed quartzite grit as a daily supplement.

They don't utilize it the same way some people do for healing benefits; it's actually very essential to their digestive systems!

Chickens don't have teeth, so they have a gizzard to help break food down into smaller pieces. (1)

Chickens instinctively pick up sand, small stones, and pieces of gravel to aid the gizzard with its job.

The bird gobbles down its food. It travels from the esophagus into the crop along with digestive enzymes. The food can hang out in the crop for up to 12 hours!

It then descends from the crop into the gizzard. The gizzard is an organ with small muscles. These muscles contract along with the grit to grind the food just right.

It leaves the gizzard and heads to the intestines, where nutrients can be absorbed. It makes its way down the path and I'm sure you can figure out the rest 💩 (2)

We offer our chickens free-choice grit ranging in different sizes depending on their age. When they're little and in the brooder, they receive #1 grit. This is tiny and perfect for their little beaks to peck up. By the time they're older, they've moved on to #3 grit. This is about pea-size.

It's amazing to see how much they eat! Who knew rocks could be so tasty 😉

We want to make sure their digestion is working at its prime. Grit helps them to better digest what they eat.

A happy gut is a happy person, er chicken!

I thoroughly enjoyed researching this! While I've helped raise chickens over the last couple of years, I'm still no bird expert! Of course, Remi fills me in when I have questions too.

I thought you all might find this interesting as well 🙂

We don't just give grit to our chickens, the turkeys get it too! They eat up to size #4. It amazes me how they gobble it down. See what I did there?

Ok, I'm done 😂 🦃

Hope you all have a great rest of your week!

Stay cool and hydrated!

Kaitlyn Kesten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizzard.

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/what-is-a-gizzard-and-how-does-it-work/

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Hey guys, Remi here! This is a post from Tracey Long's blog that she gave me permission to share here. She works in integrative and functional nutrition at Big Picture Health. Tracey has seen many people's lives changed through their bettered understanding of food, including her own. Enjoy this article, and feel free to reach out to her if you are looking for guidance in your healing journey. Pictured on left: Cows raised on pasture by the Bauman Family near Garnett, KS.Pictured on right: Cows started on grass, but finished on grain/soy at a feedlot. 1. I believe in supporting local food, small family farmers and the economy. The average miles our food travels to reach our dinner plates is about 1,500 miles1. When we eat local we conserve fuel, keep our food dollars local and can have a personal connection to the farmer and how our food is raised. I subscribe to the mantra, know your farmer, know your food. Know your farmer, know your food 2. Cows are biologically meant to eat grass and pasture, not grains like corn or legumes like soy. When you feed an animal the food that it is biologically set up for it will be healthier. Cows are four-legged ungulates best adapted to graze on forage. The digestive system of cows, the four stomachs they have that we learned about in basic biology, are meant to ferment forage. Grains like corn and legumes like soy are used as high energy-dense food alternative for cows to put weight on them quickly for faster processing. This diet that is not congruent with the cow’s biology does work to speed up the process from start to finish, but can actually compromise the animal’s health. A review article by Calloway et al2 found that cows fed a diet high in grain had higher levels of the food-borne pathogen E. coli. When the diet was changed back to forage the E. coli levels were lowered within five days. A research study by Khafipour et al3 found that cows fed a diet based on grain became acidotic, and had high levels of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) that triggered inflammation and health problems in the cattle such as liver disease. These are two scientific examples of how grain can be unhealthy for cows. 3. Grazing cattle from start to finish is better for the environment and planet. You may be interested in reading the book by Judith Schwartz, “Cows Save the Planet.”4 Judith discusses how raising cows on pasture returns moisture and nutrients to the soil and, therefore; our food. Cattle feedlots are also a significant source of environmental pollutants such as antibiotics that affect downstream aquatic life and hormones that end up in the drinking water supply as additional examples.5,6 Feedlots use antibiotics and hormones to encourage rapid and increased growth and require antibiotics to suppress illness due to the confined living space and large buildup of fecal matter. Pastured cows arguably have less negative impact and even reported positive impacts on the environment. 4. I believe in respecting and honoring the animals I eat. As humans we have the capacity to treat animals poorly for our benefit (food) or treat them in a thankful manner for the nourishment they provide us. Joel Salatin, a well-known sustainable farmer in Swope, Virginia, said in a magazine interview, “Our first responsibility is to try to figure out what kind of a habitat allows them (cows) to fully express their physiological distinctiveness. The cow doesn’t eat corn; she doesn’t eat dead cows; she doesn’t eat cow manure, which is what is currently being fed to cows in the industrial food system. We feed cows grass, and that honors and respects the cow-ness of the cow.7” Joel Salatin 5. Pasture raised and finished beef has a healthier fatty acid profile than conventional beef. The standard American diet is high in omega 6 fatty acids relative to omega 3 fatty acids. 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Dave shared with me that he even feeds his cattle organic apple cider vinegar to improve their gut health and does not use hormones or antibiotics. His cattle fertilize the land they forage on and he rotates their grazing to promote healthy soil. Yes, I pay more for the products I buy from Dave than I would pay at the local grocery store, but for the reasons I listed above I know the price is worth it!Original post by Tracey Long, MPH, RDN at Big Picture Health. Specializing in integrative and functional nutrition. Re-posted here by Remington Kesten, David's Pasture. Grass-fed & finished Beef delivered to your door.

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You may have seen the recent commotion following fast-food chain Chick-Fil-A's decision to backtrack their pledge of "No Antibiotics Ever" to "maintain supply of the high-quality chicken you expect from us." They recently replaced their NAE standard with "No Antibiotics Important to Human Medicine", which is supposed to restrict antibiotic use to those not commonly used to treat people, and "allows use of animal antibiotics only if the animal and those around it were to become sick."

We feed our chickens rocks??

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