On a farm or family chicken farm, you may often see chicks pecking at stones. So, why do chicks eat pebbles?This is actually because the chicks need to use stones to help them digest their food.
First of all, we need to understand that the stomach of a chicken is divided into two parts: the glandular stomach and the muscular stomach. The glandular stomach mainly secretes gastric juice, while the muscular stomach is used to grind food. Chickens don't have teeth and can't chew food like humans, so their muscular stomachs play this role.
When we feed our chicks, we usually provide them with some broken grain or grain. After these foods enter the chicken's stomach, they are partially broken down by gastric acid in the glandular stomach and then further ground in the muscular stomach. This process takes a certain amount of time, and during this process, the chick stores the swallowed stones in the muscular stomach.
The role of these stones is to help grind food. When food is ground in the muscular stomach, the stones act like a grinder, helping the chick to grind the food more finely, thus making it easier for the nutrients in the food to be absorbed. At the same time, stones can also help grind up substances that the chicks can't digest, such as cellulose, which is also very important for the health of the chicks.
In addition, there is another reason why chicks eat stones to replenish calcium. Chickens cannot synthesize calcium on their own and need to obtain it from food. The calcium in the stones can be absorbed by the chicks to meet their calcium needs. This is very important for the development of chick bones.
However, while there are so many benefits for chicks to eat pebbles, we can't let them eat pebbles indefinitely. Because too many stones will occupy the space of the chicken's muscles and stomach, affecting its normal food digestion. Therefore, when we feed the chicks, we should control the amount of stones, not only to ensure that the chicks can digest food normally, but also to ensure that they can obtain enough calcium.
In general, eating stones is a natural, acclimatized behavior for chickens. By eating stones, chicks are able to digest their food better, get the nutrients they need, and promote their own growth and development. For us, understanding and meeting this demand of chicks is very helpful to improve the breeding effect.
That's all there is to know about "Why do chickens eat pebbles", I hope it can help you understand this question more deeply. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them and we will answer them as soon as possible.