# How big is "Chicken Grit"?



## noela (May 22, 2008)

I've gotten some stone in to start ballasting, but it looks a bit bigger than a lot of the photos of ballast that I have seen. Generally speaking, its about 3/16". I was thinking that it might be better if it were smaller, but not being familiar with this I figured I'd drop a line here, just to check it out. There was another "stone" available, but it looked almost like sand, a bit coarser, on average around 1/16", almost like the dust that you put down on Item #4. My layout is free floating on a raised platform, and this is all that will be holding the track in place (hoping that I don't have to deal with expansion and contraction to much).


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

It sounds as if your 3/16" stuff would be about the same as Poultry Grit #3 or slightly larger yet! Poultry Grit #1 scales out best as ballast but realistically, Poultry Grit #2 is what you would want. It's small enough to look right but large enough to lock in without looking like dust.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I use the #2 also, one is too fine, other too big.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

this is all that will be holding the track in place 
noela, 

I don't know where you are located (climate makes a difference) but I think the guys here have reported that chicken grit doesn't weld itself together like rock dust. Anyone care to comment? 

I'm in the fairly wet mid-atlantic, and we use rock dust, alos called crushers fines, which the garden path guys use for the foundation. You get it at the stone quarry.


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Chicken Grit comes two ways that I know of: One is crushed Oyster shells which I _don't_ recommend and the other is crushed granite. Actually, the grit at #2 size locks together very well! Does it weld? Not really but here on the Great Plains it's what we use and it works very well! I will say that, over time, my ballast has definitely locked down to the point that the track doesn't move unless I want it to!


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

I prefer the size of #1 as it looks to me more like what I've seen on the real lines, but as others have stated it doesn't stay in place too well without some help from glue. #2 stays in place better. Another option is crusher fines. It does come with a lot of dust so maybe that's what you've seen. You can use a colander or screen to get rid of the fine dust.


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

Here is what I used. Found at a local landscaping place. Looks just like what I see every time I drive West to the big city on the B.N. tracks that they used for the "real thing". Regal







notice the dime in the left upper corner of re-railer to show size!


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

This is #2 grit..... 







Never mind. sorry the pix doesn't want to post, again, and I don't have time to mess around with it. Email me and I'll send you a photo if you like.


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## Dennis Paulson (Jan 2, 2008)

Around here the CO-op sells granite chicken grit , in comes in three sizes . 
Starter , the smallest . 
Grower , the med size that looks good with our oversize rail , and it locks together better . 

Third size , biggest , is like scale rip rap rocks . 

When I had code 250 rail , I used the starter grit . 
With the LGB track now , I use the Grower grit .


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

I started off with chicken grit the rain would wash it away and birds would eat it. So I went to pea gravel.
I take a 1/4 x 1/4 inch screen and run it through there and use the smallest pea gravel.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Ok I give up....Tell me the answer....What is chicken grit for? Besides ballasting that is.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Welcome to my group! I asked this question a year ago when I was just getting started in this outdoor RR stuff. City boy that I am, I hadn't stopped to think that chickens don't have teeth, so they need grit to help grind down their food. Good reminder to see my dentist.

I get my stone from a local "Nursery and Garden" place. They deliver various types and sizes of stone, gravel, etc. by the yard. In the photo, the larger stones (the lower part of the roadbed) are "0's & 1's" (aughts and ones). About half to 3/4 inch with some granular stuff about 1/8 inch. I use an 8x8 in. tamper on the top of the roadbed and I can walk on it (gentlly) right away. The smaller stuff at the top is my track ballast which the garden place caqlls "stonesand" (not sandstone). Nothing more than 1/4 inch with a large amount of sand. Let it sit with a bit of rain and it holds the track beautifully. The lighter colored stone above the nose of the S4 is what they call "decorative cobblestone" - mostly 1 to 1-1/2 inches. The photo was taken after a long hard Upstate New York winter (three months under 2-3 feet of snow). I need to touch up the track ballast since this was its first winter, with a fair amount of settling. The track came thru with flying colors.


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