How to Make Mash With Grits for Chickens

Chickens can eat a variety of food, from the traditional dried corn to cut clover to scraps from the dinner table. However, to maximize the health of your chicken, a homemade mash combines much of what your chicken needs in a day to remain well-fed and produce healthy eggs. This mash is simple to put together and is finished off with one of the most important elements in maintaining a chicken's digestive health: grits.

Things You'll Need

  • Iron kettle
  • Wooden spoon
  • Boiling pan
  • Hanging feeder
  • Clover
  • Wheat bran
  • Corn meal
  • Green ground bone
  • Mineral salt
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Instructions

    • 1

      Put two quarts of dry, cut clover, two quarts of wheat bran, two quarts of corn meal and one quart of green ground bone into a 12-ounce iron kettle. Green ground bone should be purchased fresh from a butcher.

    • 2

      Mix the ingredients together thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

    • 3

      Set the kettle on the stove over medium heat.

    • 4

      Stir one tsp. of mineral salt into the mash as it warms.

    • 5

      Boil one cup of water on a separate burner in a small pan.

    • 6

      Add the cup of boiling water to the mash while stirring all of the ingredients together.

    • 7

      Remove the kettle from the burner and allow the mash to cool until it's no longer hot, but warm to the touch.

    • 8

      Sprinkle 3-1/2 ounces of grit on top of the mash. Grits are small, rough rocks that aid chickens in digestion.

    • 9

      Spoon out the mash into a hanging feeder to prevent chickens from scratching the grits onto the ground.