Calcium

[kidfarmer]

One of the girls laid her first egg this morning and the shell wasn't soft, I was wondering if I should add some crushed sea shells to make sure the shells are hard?

 

[ChickenMammX4]

I have crushed oyster shell available in the coop. The hens will only eat it if needed. Good insurance to have it available.

 

[kidfarmer]

Ok i will try that thank you

 

[KrysPel]

Oh! Another thing you can do is feed them crushed egg shells. Take their egg shells after you use them and put them in a blender, or a chopper, or just do it by hand, and give it back to them! The roosters never touch it, for some reason, I guess they know they don't need it! But be sure to crush them up very tiny so it's almost unrecognizable to the chickens, because if they realize its egg shell because it's not crushed enough, they may begin thinking their laid eggs will be just a yummy tasting!

But I do that with their egg shells and I've never once had an egg eater, or a soft egg shell, so I think it works really well and its so inexpensive!

 

[snow5164]

My oyster shells seem like such big pieces, does anyone crush them finer? And how ???

 

[aart]

Actually the oyster shells with their larger pieces are better for calcium supplementation.
They will eat them and slowly absorb the calcium.

Egg shells are OK too and do not have to be crushed into powder to avoid egg eating.
Some folks don't even break them up, just toss the halves into the run.

I break so my shells up a bit and mix them with the oyster shell and always have them available in a separate container but I feed a crumble without calcium.
Even if you feed a layer feed with calcium, it's good to have oyster shells available.

 

[Lois from KY]

I was wondering that myself.

 

[ninjawesome]

At pet stores you will find in the parrot section this thing called "cuttlebone." It is cephlapod bone, but even my parrots like it. It has a very good source of calcium.

 

[aart]

At pet stores you will find in the parrot section this thing called "cuttlebone." It is grinded fish bone, but even my parrots like it. It has a very good source of calcium.

'Trivia'...because, the more you know....:and well, I'm a bit of a science geek:
A cuttlebone is actually the internal structure of the cuttlefish which is not a fish but a cephlapod(like octopus and squid).

It is high in calcium tho and fine for chickens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttlebone

 

[ninjawesome]

Haha woopsies! (Edited in a flash) Thanks for the trivia!