Do I need oyster shells?

[deweyprimjosiedelilah]

I've heard a lot of talk about feeding your chickens oyster shells. I was wondering if this is absolutely necessary or if we should only buy them if the egg shells seem to be a little thin.

Thanks!

 

[chickyluvr97526]

I think all chickens need additional calcium from some source for nice hard shells; I see a lot of people just feeding the chickens their own crushed up egg shells instead of oyster shells too so maybe if you don't want to purchade oyster shells you could do that??

 

[galanie]

I'd say to get it anyway, It's very cheap, and why create a problem if you don't have to. Most of us do, and just offer it free choice in it's own dish or feeder. If they need calcium, they eat it, and if not, they don't.

 

[ncgrad00]

I dont think they really need it unless their shells are thin. I havent feed mine any extra and they have all laid just fine.

 

[Nicole01]

We bought a 50# bag on sale for $9.99. Our girls love it and our first egg today was nice and strong! I personally like it. I gave some to my neighbor across the street. I'm sure the 50# bag will last as long as I have chickens.

I'm not feeding my flock layer yet due to the ages of the young ones. The oyster shell is working great.

 

[Muggsmagee]

Quote:
If you are cooking with your eggs, just save the shells, dry them out in the oven, crush them up into bits and voila feed them back to the chickens! They get their extra calcium. You DO NOT NEED to buy oyster shell. A good friend told us she puts whole eggs in a pitcher, takes a handheld blender, and whips them up good and then scrambles/cooks them up to feed back to the flock. We've been doing this with our extra eggs ever since. It's great added protein, calcium is in there...WIN/WIN.

 

[deweyprimjosiedelilah]

Thanks everybody! My 16-week-olds haven't started laying yet, but when they do I'll be ready