Aussie Finch Forum

just wondering what others know about longevity of shell grit???

was thinkin of buying 25kg of fine shell grit from work. splitting half with a mate. i assume it cant go off??? i know iv had in the past shell grit for a while, and it seemed fine.

i can get the bag for 15bucks!! then il just put my half in a plastic bin/container.

what do others do?? buy from the supermarket in small bags?? or buy big and store it??

jarryd

I use cuttlefish that I pick up off the beaches and wash off.
Parents used to use shell grit for the show poultry many years ago.
It's shell, cant' see how it can go off. Shells can be fossilized for hundreds of years in rock and don't disintigrate when dug out.
LML

The shell i crush up for my mix I picked of the beach about 10 yrs ago.It might have been there for 10 yrs plus before that.I am nearly out of it so a couple of yrs ago i bought some small inland small shell ready to use.

If its kept dry it shouldnt go off , if it gets wet it wont go off either but the moisture around the shell will get some funky stuff growing in it .

thanks for the feedback guys!

i brought the bag today, and its moist, is it safe to feed moist??? i normally have it dry when they get it, il stick it in the sun to start drying out.

had planned to offer them a cup of shell grit, then another cup with, charcoal, crushed oyster shell and egg shells, sounds alright????

Jarryd

The sun is an excellent way to disinfect anything so good idea. Easier to mix all the grits , shells etc together saves having so many bowls and the birds have to work to get what they want .... keeps them busy.