Won't be a problem and it may do some good.....that is the grit may deter slugs.
But get soem Escar-go and get rid of them at no peril to other creatures.
Linda C

get the chickens back ...

ken

Did the chickens bother your hostas (or other plants) at all? We have some baby chicks and wonder how destructive they might become as adults if they wander about.

grackles.. chickens.. what the difference.. they will rid you beds of many yummy things.. lol

ken

ps: a bit of garlic, butter and lemon.. and you could do it yourself.. lol

I put grower grit under my mulch and it seems to work very well, I also use the non-toxic form of slug bate and it work great but I am very vigilant in using it. As the time goes buy I don't have to use that much. I have ( well too many to count hostas) seen only two small holes in a hosta that is really off the beaten path. Do I need to use the grit with safer slug bate, no I only use grit as a back up on my most very favorite hostas, and the slow growing mini hostas. I am in Virginia, slug county as well, I start to use the bate when there is still ice in the dirt, starting early seems to be key in using the safe slug bate. The chemical toxic stuff, destroys your soil, kills off all your earth worms which then cause your soil to compact, and is generally just very terrible stuff. I buy my slug bate at home depot, I will buy maybe four bags in a year, which cost about forty dollars, so that is about a half a bag a month, but then again I have gotten my slug numbers under control, to so I only have to use that wee little bit. I do throw some over the fence in the neighbors yard, it is not toxic so that is not a problem.

As far as chickens bothering the hostas and other plants, the answer is: They are wonderful helpers in a garden of established plants. Any new seedlings planted, however look very enticing to them because they are growing in disturbed soil. I couldn't plant anything or weed any place without a group of them right there with me to get the good worms or bugs.

They scratch around the growing plants and get rid of all the new seedlings of annual and perennial weeds. They are amazing. We sold them because they completely tie us down. We had to be home every evening at sunset to lock them indoors.

In Fine Gardening magazine's Design Ideas special edition, Van Wade wrote an article entitled "Hostas with a golden touch". In the article, he described his formula for controling slugs as "15% non foaming ammonia and 85% water. I apply the mixture with a watering can at night, completely soaking the leaves and killing all slugs and snails on contact. Absolutely no harm is done to the plants, and the application may be repeated every two weeks." I have not done this yet, but plan to start this application this weekend.

Last year I had read about crushed eggs shells to keep slugs off your plants, so I tried it. I made a ring around some of my hosta plants with the crushed shells. It really did work. I plan on using this method again this year. The downside to this was that white crushed eggs shell rings don't look very pretty and after a rain you have to fill in the gaps made from the rain creating openings in the circle.

I may try soaking the shells in water with tea bags, so the shells don't look so white.

Susan

Grit and oyster shells fine for hostas. Probably will have minimal effect on slugs. I don't recommend the chickens. They eat bugs and slugs, but also do a lot of damage as they scratch the ground. They can uproot any small plants and move the mulch around so it looks bad. If you want an animal that eats tons of bugs and slugs but never scratches the ground, get guinea hens. They won't damage your garden. They're a nice pet to have around also- and act like a watch dog when a stranger enters the yard. Don

We had a female guinea hen for several months---one winter--it just moved into our yard; we did not buy it & we asked all over the neighborhood if anyone was missing theirs, but no takers---

Anyway, besides pecking at bugs, this one decided it had to roost on the roof rack of the Dodge Caravan, and poop all over the roof all night. Also, it was lonely all by itself so it spent hours staring at its reflection in the side of the dark blue van.

When it wasn't pooping on the van it was pooping on the driveway, and family would track this into the house.

Finally one day she would not get off the van, when I had to drive somewhere---it stayed on the roof rack, while I drove slowly down the street---must have been quite a sight---it finally scrambled off in front of the neighbor's house.

A couple of days later I went to see what had happened next---I found the place where it had roosted in a small evergreen overnight (lots of poop on needles & under tree) and asked the neighbor---sure enough the next day it had turned up in her yard. She did not like the way it looked like a vulture (they do) and chased it out. Never heard of it since.

If I had a larger yard I would be happy to have 2 guinea hens--not one; they are so social they have to have at least one buddy---but you have to keep them away from the vehicles and wipe your feet if you have been where they are.