Show Notes
Jeff is a poultry nutritionist who’s spent three decades working with pastured poultry producers. He’s done more than anyone else to raise awareness about the need to feed your chickens digestive grit. Digestive grit is very different to shell grit. To see pictures of the kind of stones he’s talking about, check out his article in the September 2025 issue of Chook Journal, a fully digital experience available now on our website chookjournal.com.au In this conversation Jeff explains: * How digestive grit (insoluble for mechanical digestion in the gizzard) is completely different to shell grit/oyster shell (soluble source of calcium) * That most soil types do not contain enough rocks and stones to supply chickens with the amount of right-size grit they need to consume every month * His lightbulb moment when he discovered the importance of digestive grit * The mechanism by which rocks and stones benefit chickens (and all poultry) * How digestive grit protects against intestinal worms * Why some worms are normal and actually healthy in chickens (as is some coccidiosis) * What types of stones you can use to DIY digestive grit since there's no ready-made product sold in Australia * What size grit for what age chicken * How to start baby chicks on grit
More from Chook. The Podcast
For almost 40 years, Phil and Anne Westwood have run Freeranger Eggs in Grantville, 90 km south east of Melbourne.
Brendon Murphy presides over the Australian Facebook group dedicated to Cream Legbar breeding.
Belinda Burgess tried having a regular job. She tried retiring. Neither stuck. Despite 12 hour days, 7 days a week, she says running a commercial poultry farm is a good job, a passion. Therapy, even. She sells 30-40+ dozen eggs per week at the height of the season, and hatches hundreds of chicks per week. She sells year-round. Ask her how many breeds she keeps and she'll have to check. In this conversation, Belinda is beautifully candid. She shares what it’s really like selling hatching eggs as a business — the ups and downs and some of her major learnings along the way. Whether it’s leg banding baby chicks at midnight or packing eggs at dawn…this chat will give you a feel for what it takes to build a successful operation. Topics discussed include: