Question to those that feed their chickens eggshells back to their chickens.

my grandma used to collect them in a coffee can that used to sit over the hotwater tray of her wood cooking and heating stove, once a week she would crush them up and throw them back into run along with sratch.

I keep them for about a week or 2 in a bowl, open air. Then I bake them till toasty (not burned) and let cool. I put them in a plastic bag and crush by hand. I add the shells to the scratch or mix them in scraps from the kitchen. Sometimes I've just put them in a bowl in the coop for them to scratch and peck at their leisure.

I save all eggshells and put some on garden or flowerbeds. When that is covered, I give them back to the hens -- just let them dry and crush them. If we get more than 4 eggs, the cats expect one. The hens are watching when I open an egg for the cats on the grass and expect me to toss the shell over the fence to them.

Your cats can count!!! All mine do is catch mice and bother me.

Lol, I had no idea this thread was still going on! Well,since I originally started this thread I now store my egg shells in a container in the fridge. When that is full, I bake them at 300'ish for about 10 min. I let them cool, then crush them. I have a tendency to have a black cloud over my head when it comes to animals. If something weird or freaky is going to happen, it will happen to my animals. Therefore, that is why I bake them. Also, my hubby has hard boiled eggs alot. Sometimes some of the lining of the hard boiled part gets tossed in with the shells. That doesn't crush real well. Baking helps harden that up too. I tried the microwave. Left them in a little too long. Holy cow, burnt eggshells STINK!!!!! Took a while for that smell to dissipate! Once baked, I just scatter the crushed eggshell on the ground in the covered area of my chickens run, and they eat it as they wish. Usually by the time they have eaten it up, my egg shell container is full, and I bake them some more. I just really like the idea of baking off any bacteria that may be on there. I also have had issues with egg eating in the past, so I don't throw uncrushed shells to them. I want to tempt them into that nasty habit again.