Feeding Eggshells

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tammy j

tammy j

In the Brooder
12 Years
Jul 6, 2007
50
0
29
S.W.Mo
I have been reading about feeding eggshells, and was wondering how is the best way to feed it to your chickens? I have both crushed (pin head sized) and powdered eggshells. What would best to do with each kind? I was mixing a handful of powdered into a 5 gallon bucket of feed, but haven't started feeding the crushed. Should I mix it with their feed or feed separate? How much calcium is too much? Will it hurt the roosters to get it? Will too much make the eggshells too thick and hard to break? Do they even need it, since I feed the layer crumbles and free-range? Any help would be appreciated.
Tammy
 
I crumble mine into chunks and add it to peels and stale bread and other treats from the house. Only the hens are really interested in it. They chow down on it, but not all the time. Some days they are voracious and eat the shells first. Other days they ignore them. I think they self-regulate pretty well.

I feed mine layer crumbles, so they have calcium in their food. They still seem to relish the shells when they are in the mood for them.
 
I feed raw eggs to my dogs every night, and the dogs that don't eat eggshells, I rinse them, let them dry for a couple days, then crush the shells with my hand and feed them to my finches (who LOVE crushed egg shells) and the rest go in with the old finch seed and get thrown out on the yard for the chickens, who do eat them pretty well.

molly
 
Generally, it is advised that you crush egg shells and have oyster shell free choice on the side as roosters do not need all that calcium, and can be bad for their livers and kidneys.
 
You can always microwave them for 30 seconds and then bash them up , very good for helping with shell and and top up for grit
wink.png
 
Many people bake their egg shells before crushing...

I haven't actually read of any benefit for doing this e.g. killing disease/bacteria etc.

So I have just been feeding the cracked egg shells (crushed when I have the time) to my birds.

I have been doing this for a few years now with no ill effect.
 

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